A New Life
by christyzachman
Summary: This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do our agents survive being children?
1. Starting Over

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter one.

It took a few weeks but everything got unpacked at the house and legalities of our agents was straightened out. Their apartments and homes had been kept up during the assignment but now that is was over and they don't know how long they will be like this now. The apartments were cleaned out, the furniture was sold and the personal stuff was brought over for each of our agents.

All the while this is happening momma is checking out the machine to find out if it is actually repairable. She has finally decided that she needs to go to the institute to check it against the main machine there and check on Ross's and the assistant's reports. She also wants her 'children' to be examined by the physicians to determine their health and development levels are what they should be.

Penelope was originally placed as a nineteen-year-old she has started back at the FBI in the main office downtown Washington as a technical analyst for another unit. She decides to stay with momma and the others just because she likes being part of a family and being the oldest is good too. Also, if she wants to return to her regular age she needs to stay in the loop with the family.

Sean is thirteen and is not able to return to his life in New York so they have him be with momma as the oldest boy. He is not happy and did not expect to have to relive his teen years not yet understanding that until momma fixes the machine he won't actually get older and will be thirteen for the rest of his life. He has been helping momma out with unpacking her room and moving all of the Aaron's stuff and toys from his room to hers since Aaron wanted to be in her room and not share with his brother. Sean is learning how to be the oldest and that there are six younger siblings to watch out for. He was always the younger one and it's a little disconcerting sometimes to be the older one and having more responsibility. It has definitely given him a little more respect for Aaron when growing up.

Our next child is JJ, who is now known as Jennifer and has talked to Will, who has been finally fully told about the operation and what has happened. He has come over with Henry once a week so that she can spend time with him. She is twelve years and does her best to give him as much of her time and love as possible. She is the mother-hen of the younger children and tries to not let her feelings of not being able to be a true mother to Henry but she tries to maintain a good relationship with Will and Henry.

David is frustrated as he lived on the earth for more than fifty years and yet he was now a child of eleven years under the doctor who created the device that made him eleven and now calls her mommy. He hasn't called anyone by that title in a long time and is still uncomfortable about doing so. He hopes that she doesn't make him go back to school since he hated it the first time. He hated it the second time and doesn't want to do it a third time.

Derek in not sure of what his role really is as the middle child of a large family at eight-years-old. He doesn't feel that he can protect the younger ones like he should and feels it is wrong when others try to protect him. He is sharing a room with Spencer who sometimes drives him crazy with his continuing chatter and sometimes young way of viewing the world. He works at protecting his little siblings.

Emily is a sweet five-year-old little girl who is not sure of whether she likes this situation or not. She grew up as a single child of diplomats that traveled the world. She never had a true part of land to call home or siblings to watch over her or play with. She always had to make new friends or fit in to a new place where they spoke a different language and had different customs. She kind of likes waking up with sisters and brothers around and having a mommy who doesn't have to go out all the time but will sit and read stories and play games with her. She is learning to like being five years old and not just being called a little princess but being treated like a little sister. She likes to play with Spencer who is only a year younger than she.

Spencer is not sure of how he feels and what he wants since he has been enjoying being a four-year-old. He liked going to the pre-school classes. He likes sitting in mommy's lap and she reads to him like his mother used to do. Only mommy reads books for children not just classics and great literature. He likes having brothers and sisters to play with and do things with. He is still reading and learning and knowing how to profile but he enjoys having a home without responsibilities of taking care of others.

Aaron, our youngest at 15-months-old is the boss of this unit. He is frustrated because he wants what he can't have and yet isn't going to give up trying to get it. He is the boss still and others do defer and talk to him but he is also a baby who still takes a bottle, sleeps in the crib in momma's room and wears diapers 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. He has difficulty in climbing the stairs and doesn't walk far before getting tired. He is tired of being a baby.

Momma gathers her children together to take the bus to the institute. The car is not big enough now that Sean is with them and momma wants Penelope to be checked out as well. So they take the bus to the institute. Upon arriving momma and the children walk to the fourth floor where the medical personnel and she begins to talk to Dr. Hovde about checking the children out and making sure they are at the correct developmental level. He begins to do physical medical exams on the children beginning with Aaron, who does not want to do it.

He did what he could to be a problem for them trying to measure his height, weight, inches of waist, chest, inseam, seat, head, neck and all of the parts of the body so they could compare them to what is considered normal for a child of the age he is supposed to represent. They take his blood pressure, temperature and then had to take blood which is what finally caused him to cry like the baby he was. Although they use the smallest syringe needles possible for babies, they still hurt excessively to be poked in their tiny arteries and veins. After the blood was taken momma held her baby to comfort him from the examination while watching Spencer and Emily now having their physical exam vitals and then more crying when syringes enter small bodies to take blood. She takes these three little ones to another floor while Derek and David begin their physicals.

On the first floor is the daycare center for the employees of the institute and momma planned on dropping off her three little ones there while the others have their physicals and she then heads to her office and begin to process the thousands of reports and paperwork waiting for her. Arriving there she talks to Director Amy Larson about the child agents and how she wants them to taken care of. Spencer is put in the early four-year-old class with his teacher, Ms. Eidenschink. Who welcomes him and shows him his own cubby hole for his stuff and then introduces him to the other children in his class, which is currently in reading time, where the teacher assistant was reading stories to the children. Emily is in the five-year-old class with her teacher Ms. Green. Who welcomes her and shows her where to put her things and takes her outside where her class is playing in the playground. Momma then goes into the toddler room to meet with Ms. Olson and introduces her to Aaron, who refuses to look at her or get out of momma's arms. Although momma did not drop him off that day, she wanted to meet the teacher of the room.

She went back up to where the physical exams were being done. The boys, including Sean were done while Jennifer was in the exam room and Penelope had started her exam in another area. Momma left Aaron in Sean's arms while she went to check on Jennifer and made sure that she was not being made uncomfortable by the invasiveness that can occur for girls about to become young women. But Jennifer and Penelope get through their physicals fine and now momma will have to wait for the results of the lab tests and reports. She and the others go to the food court to get some lunch, momma thought about getting Spencer and Emily but decided to allow them to eat with their classes. After lunch, momma takes the older children to a place where they can spend time with other young people in the institute and read, play games, do artwork and whatever else they can come up with in the place. Momma takes Aaron with her to her office on the top floor and begins to work on paperwork while he sat on her lap until he fell asleep for his afternoon nap.

Aaron was just waking up when momma received a call from the daycare center. It seems one of the little ones fell down and cut their head open while playing. She picks up Aaron and heads down there. When she gets there and goes to the year five room where she sees her little girl with a tears streaming down her face mixed with some blood. There was a wide gash on her forehead from right eye to hairline.

"Hey Sweetheart."

"Mommy." she cries to her and reaches out. Momma puts Aaron down and checks out her little girl.

Talking to the director, she says, "I am going to take her upstairs to have Dr. Hovde look at it. I am going to leave Aaron with Ms. Olson. He just woke up from his nap and needs his afternoon snack. I will be back down soon to pick up my boys." She lifts Emily into her arms and takes Aaron by the hand as she walks out of the year five room and into the toddler room. Aaron balks and doesn't want to go in.

"No, mommy, let me come with you."

"I want you here and safe while she gets checked out. I can't keep an eye on you and talk with the doctor. Besides you need to get to know Ms. Olson."

"No mommy please I'll be good. Please." He looks at her with the cutest little boy face of her sweet baby but she is not buying it today.

"No, you will stay here for a few hours, they will give you a snack and you can play until mommy comes back."

"I don't want to stay here. Please don't make me stay here." Mommy looks at the teacher who picks Aaron up and he screams and tries to get down. Mommy heads upstairs to have Emily looked at by the Doctor. The doctor looks at the head and sees that it is not too bad and puts some stitch tapes and gives her a sucker for being such a brave little girl. Mommy takes her back to the office with her and Emily sits at the table in the office and does some coloring while momma continues to work on her backlog of reports and analysis. At 5:00, momma gets up and stretches and goes to her little girl and sees the several pieces of paper that she has created artwork on. Emily looks up at her and smiles.

"It's time to go home sweetie. Let's clean up." They get ready to go pick up the rest of the family.

They go to the education room where the big kids are and get Derek, David, Jennifer and Sean. Penelope actually asked to go to the main computer room to see the device and how they are analyzing and working to repair the device. Momma and the kids go to pick her up as they head to the daycare area where Spencer and Aaron are. Momma heads into year four and sees Spencer playing. She talks to Ms. Eidenschink about his day while one of the kids goes to get Spencer, who then comes running over and grabs momma around the waist. She smiles and gives him a big hug back. They head back out of the room and Spencer gets into the double stroller that momma had brought that Emily is already sitting in. Momma goes into the toddler room.

"Hello, Ms. Olson."

"Hello Doctor Anderson."

"How did my boy do this afternoon?"

"He didn't."

"Excuse me."

"He has been sitting over in a corner since you left. He would not come for a snack and when we tried to change him he screamed and bit one of the assistants. We decided to just allow him to sit and sulk until you returned. I don't know if he is ready to be in this room." Momma looks in to the corner and sees her baby boy sitting and curled up.

"Thank you Ms. Olson, I'll see you tomorrow." She walks over to Aaron and bends down to pick him up and when he feels the hands on him he begins to fight and squirm. She brings him to her chest despite his squirming. She begins to murmur soft words to him and he looks up at her face and then grabs onto to her like he will never let go again.

"I am mad at you Rebecca."

"You are? Can you tell me why?"

"You left me here when I didn't want to be here. I begged you to not leave me here but you did anyway."

"Didn't you think that I would be back for you?" He shook his head as he grabbed her tighter. She takes him over to the changing table and placed him down to clean him up and put his snow suit on him to go outside.

"Are you hungry?" He nodded his head.

"Then you should have eaten your snack with the rest of the children." He looks at with sad eyes that showed that he felt humiliated by the fact that she left him there. "I know that you don't want to be around other children your 'age' but it would good for you to do so. When we come here, I am here to work. That is the purpose. I want to check the machine and get it repaired so we can return you to your normal self. You need to allow me to do that and when you're with me I don't work as well. That is why this daycare was created. All of its employees and assistants are spouses and parents of the people who work here. All the people who work here volunteer a certain number of hours each month. We love to spend time with our children and all of us do so as much as we can but we still must work and children need structure and socialization time with others. You will come to daycare. Ms. Olson thinks that you are not ready for this classroom. Maybe tomorrow we'll try the baby room. You might like that room better." She puts him in the baby carrier that she has on her body, since the stroller was taken by the other two little ones. She meets the others in the hall and they head to the bus stop to go home.


	2. Director's Visit

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Two The Director's Visit

The next day our family wakes up and once again takes the bus to go to the institute. Penelope goes to work downtown. When they arrive, momma drops off Spencer and Emily in the daycare and the older children in the education room. She takes Aaron to her office and puts him on the floor to play with toys that had been brought in. The doctor sits in silence while continuing her work on taking care of the backlog of work on her desk. A few hours later Aaron came over and started to look at her while she worked.

"What do you want Aaron?"

"I'm hungry and not feeling very comfortable."

"Well, you will have to wait since I am a little busy right now."

"Oh." He goes back to sit again with the toys and continues to look at her every few minutes. She allows him to sit another thirty minutes before getting up to change him and put some food down for him to chew on. After which she goes back to work. He continues to look at her every few minutes wondering if she was mad at him or what was actually happening. At noon, she changes him and goes to the education room to get the older kids and go to lunch. After lunch, the kids go back to the education room while the doctor goes to check on the two in daycare and watches while they play outside in the playground. She takes Aaron to the baby room and sits with him in the rocking chair. He is taking a bottle and falls asleep for his afternoon nap. She leaves him in a crib in the room and heads back upstairs. She knows that he will probably be upset when he wakes up but knows that it needs to be done.

An hour later, the doctor gets a visit from the Director of the FBI.

"Hello, Rebecca."

"Hello, Robert, what can I do for you?"

"You can tell me how my agents are doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are they ready to work?"

"In what way do you want them to work?"

"Don't by coy Rebecca?"

"I'm not being coy. I just want to know what my child agents can do for you right now."

"There are cases that they can work on and I want Aaron to work with me in certain meetings. I want his profiling impressions about the people I meet with."

"Couldn't the others do that as well?"

"The little ones possibly but the others I want to put in other type of cases."

"You want them to be what?"

"I want to put them in danger to catch the pedophiles and child pushers which are those who deal in child slavery, child drug rings and child pornography. Your 'children' are the best that we have in profiling the criminals and now in trapping them. Are they ready to do the job?"

7She looks at the man and wants to say no to him but knows that her 'children' are ready for the jobs that the director wants them to do. She knows that this is one of the purposes of the experiment and the reason for the grants and money spent on the machine and its resulting reports and although the device that has the adult version of the children in it is still being analyzed and they are working to obtain the locked data, it did do the job that it was supposed to do. We learned a great deal about it and what it can do. She knows that putting her child agents in danger is necessary even if she is still feeling like an overprotective mother.

"The agents are ready when you are sir. Would you like to come to dinner tonight and discuss it with them?"

"That sounds fine and I will have my secretary call you about a time. It was good to see you Rebecca." He gets up and leaves the room and institute.

Momma goes back to work some more until someone knocks on her door and she sees an assistant from the baby room holding Aaron in her arms. He looked like he had been screaming and crying and angry. She looks at the woman holding him and sees a resigned and hopeful look on her face. Momma smiles as she gets up to take her baby from the woman's arms.

"Thank you, Janelle. Was he that bad?"

"He was good when he was asleep." Both women laugh heartily. "When he woke up, he got upset because he didn't know where he was. He wouldn't let us change him, so he is still in a wet diaper and hasn't had a snack yet. I do hope next time we can get to know him a little better."

"I hope so too but don't count on it. Have a good day Janelle." The woman leaves and momma takes Aaron to the cabinet in the corner where she has set up a changing table. She places him on it and changes his diaper. After which she stands him up on the table and kisses him all over his face and tummy to get him to laugh and giggle and she succeeds in doing so.

"Now that you are smiling we can talk."

"Are you mad at me Rebecca?"

"No. Disappointed, yes. But I am not mad at you." She carries him over to her desk and sits down with him sitting on the desk. "The director came by this afternoon since he has some work that he wants his agents to do."

"What kind of work?"

"The kind of work that the device was created for and designed to do and he wants them to help profile and catch predators of children. I don't know how but he has ideas and plans for that. He is coming to dinner tonight to talk to the family about what they can do. I am not sure about you. He wants you to do something as well."

"What can I do?"

"What did you do when you were with him in the meeting last summer?"

"You think that's what he wants me to do?"

"I have a feeling that is what he wants, but you haven't been acting like you want to do anything like that or are able to do it." He looks at her with sadness.

"I am sorry if I have been a brat."

"You haven't been a brat, just a baby. I would rather you were not a baby. I would rather that you would at least be a toddler. I want to buy you a toddler bed, a booster chair for the dining table but I am not going to if you keep acting like a clingy baby."

"Have I been that bad?"

"Yes, you have been that bad. I am not happy that you won't allow the daycare people take care of you when I can't."

"I don't want strangers doing that. I know it sounds bad but my adult mind says no to strangers. It is bad enough that people I trust have to take care of me like that but the idea of strangers is just hard for me to allow. I am sorry that I act badly but I don't want strangers doing it to me."

"I understand but we have had this conversation before,"

"I know that others have the authority to do so but I don't care. I don't want strangers to do it."

"Are you hungry?"

"Do you really have to ask that question?" They both smile and chuckle at that since they both know the answer to her question is yea. Momma sets him down on the floor and places a snack and sippy cup of kool-aid for him to eat. She goes back to work until about 4:30 when she decides to make it a day and works with Aaron to clean up and put everything away. He gets into the baby carrier so that Spencer and Emily can use the stroller while the older kids walk to the bus stop to go home.

At home, momma begins to make dinner while the kids come in and tell what they did during their time at the institute that day. She puts the older ones to cutting up vegetables and making a salad. Sean is bringing many of his culinary skills to focus in helping her make good meals for the family. The younger ones help by staying out of the way but stay within shouting distance. The director's secretary had called and told them to expect him at about 7:00pm. At 6:30, the girls start to set the table and the boys finish up with momma in fixing the dinner.

At 7:00pm, the door rang and Derek answered the door to the Director of the FBI.

"Good Evening Sir, won't you come in."

"Thank you Derek. Did you have a good day at the institute?"

"Yes sir, I did." After taking off his coat, he went into the dining room and saw the table set. Derek led him to the end seat and he sat while the others brought in the food and then sat down. The younger children had been sitting in their seats when he sat down. He looked at each of them as they also looked at him.

"Have you been enjoying the daycare center at the institute?"

Spencer responds, "Yes, I have been enjoying my time there. We do a lot of things that I don't remember ever doing so it has been an interesting experience."

"Yes, I remember you telling me about making your frog and doing things in the pre-school in Harvard. Has is helped you in becoming a better agent for me?"

"I don't know about that sir, but I think it is helping me become a better person which can make me a better agent sir."

"Well, maybe we should keep it up for you until I need you."

"You don't need me sir."

"Not yet, but momma will let you know when I do. How about you Emily? Have you been enjoying the daycare center?"

"I find it not too bad sir, but I do enjoy the family and home dynamic here better. Unlike Spencer, it feels weird when I do some of the things that we do. I find it strange to sit and listen to stories and play in the room with different toys, it sometimes feels wrong."

"Well, I think it is also good for you to do. Momma will let you know when I need you to do an assignment. What about you Aaron, have you enjoyed the daycare center?"

"Sir, I hate the daycare center and don't wish to be a part of it in any way."

"I don't want to hear that you have bitten anybody again."

"Who told you that sir?" asks momma as she comes in from the kitchen with food.

"I have my sources Rebecca."

"Do have an unauthorized nosy person in my institute?"

"Yes Rebecca you do." She squints with mild anger at him after learning this information. "Please don't try to find who it is because I really like to keep the person there." She looks at him with suspicious and irritation.

"I'll think about it." She sits down and the older children all sit around the table. They say grace and begin to eat the meal of beef casserole, vegetable terrine and fruit salad. The children have milk, momma has iced tea and the director has a red wine to drink while eating.

After dinner, Penelope and David began to clear the table. Momma has a chart of chores for her children to do and tonight is their night for clearing the table. It is Sean and Derek's turn to wash and dry the dishes, but that will have to wait until the director has finished talking with his agents.

He begins with a small lecture about why the machine was created and the reason why their unit was chosen to do the experiment. Although the machine becoming damaged was not planned, the plan to use agents to become children for catching child predators is still ongoing. He has a few assignments that he needs young people to perform. They were able to find many when they were able to get through the information from the computer from the Illinois rescue of the children. It was a good conclusion and now he wants to use the members of the team for other similar operations. They aren't able to do the full load of BAU work but they can do some. He wants them to go back to work in profiling in office and to do field work in locating child predators.

"Where do you want them to work?"

"Their main office will still be out of Quantico but they can also work at the institute or here at home. The offices in Quantico are about a one hour drive by car from this location, which is a doable commute. We just have to have a driver pick you up and bring you home. You will work…"

"Eight hours per day with no overtime, including when you are in the field." Momma breaks into what he was saying.

"Rebecca sometimes that might not work out."

"These people around this table do have adult intelligence and knowledge but they have the bodies of a child and that body has needs of sleep and food that is greater than an adult. I want them home each night at a decent hour or they do not work every day."

"Rebecca, we can discuss this later together about hours of work for these agents." She nods her head but with her body language she lets him know that she is quite adamant about making sure they get enough sleep and that life is not all work.

The director leaves at about 10:00pm and momma prepares and puts her children to bed.


	3. BTW Monday

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Three. Back to Work - Monday

The following Monday morning at 7:00am, there is a knock at the door while the children were still eating their breakfast. Jennifer got up to answer it and invites an agency employee.

Momma says, "Good morning sir, what can we do for you?"

"Good morning ma'am, I am here to pick-up some child agents to take to the offices in Quantico."

"It is early."

"It takes an hour or longer to get there ma'am and the director would like them there before 9:00am. Leaving now gives us plenty of time to get there."

"You'll have to wait until they finish breakfast and I have everything ready for them. Sit down and eat something. It probably won't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes." The young man sits down at the table. "Who are you planning to take today?"

"I have been ordered to take Jennifer, David, Derek and Emily, Ma'am."

"Do you have a booster seat for Emily; a regular seat belt could injure her."

"Yes, ma'am, the director took your advice to complete heart and has put everything in the car that you wished for."

She has been preparing a lunch for each of her agents to take with them in their backpacks along with whatever else might be needed. She had them dressed in suits and looking as much like FBI agents as she could get them to look. After about fifteen minutes, our agents had finished breakfast and washed their face and hands and brushed their teeth. They got their coats on and left the house with the agency driver.

Penelope took the bus to head to the main headquarters downtown and that left momma with three of her boys, Sean, Spencer and Aaron.

Spencer asks, "Why can't I go to the office as well? I can read and do that kind of office work too."

"Yes, you can but not every day. Your body would get too tired working every day but you will work some days of the week."

"What do I do the rest of time?"

"You will be in the day care center or here at home."

"Oh. Okay." He goes to run downstairs to the playroom. Sean had already turned to head down there and explore on the computer and work on the projects that he was working on at home. Momma heads back to the dining room to clear the table and fill the dishwasher with the morning dishes. Aaron stays out of her way but watches her doing this mundane job. When she finished she went to each of the floors and picked up the dirty sheets and clothes that the children had left at each of their doors. She started two loads of laundry in the two washers and then proceeded to begin to dust the living room and entry and stairwell. Aaron keeps watching the entire time that she is cleaning. She has chosen to ignore him.

It gets to be about 10:00 when Aaron's stomach does a loud rumble and she looks at him with a smile on lips. She picks him up and puts him in a feeding chair where she then gives him some soft foods and a sippy cup of apple juice. Spencer comes up and asks for something too and momma gives him a small snack before putting his snow suit on and sending him outside to the back yard to play with Aaron in their snow suits. She put on a coat and went out to play with them by pushing swings or lifting Aaron unto the teeter-totter to counter-balance against Spencer. Sean came up after awhile and came out to play a little with the little boys. Momma enjoyed watching as the two little ones ganged up on him and attacked him, causing him to fall down and then they began to climb all over him while he tried to get up and tickle the boys if they got in to his hands. She knew the little ones were safe in his hands and went inside to begin to prepare lunch.

Shortly thereafter, the three boys came in and started to take off their wet snowsuits and coat. Sean took the boys to the bathroom so that Spencer could use the toilet and he changed his jeans which were damp from the snow into dry ones and then changed Aaron's diaper.

Aaron protested a little at that, he still doesn't like it when someone other than momma does it.

"Momma is fixing lunch, so it is my job to do this. Chill and let us get it over with, okay baby brother."

Sean smiles and the boys do what they have to do. They come back into the kitchen and sit at the small table in the back of the room where momma has set up lunch bowls and plates. There is tomato soup and grilled cheeses sandwiches for our boys to eat. She puts a bib on both Aaron and Spencer because soup is messy. After lunch, the boys help her put the dishes into the dishwasher and put the breakfast dishes away. They then go downstairs to the playroom where momma reads a story and rocks her little ones to sleep for naps. Sean gets some one on one time with momma now. He has questions about a science experiment he is trying to perform and they partner together to do the experiment.

**BAU Headquarters in Quantico**

The SUV arrives and the child agents get out heading to the BAU office floor where some changes have been made. The regular units have a little less space because there is a new division which our agents are part of. There are desks set up for each of them near the head office of the one adult member of the team, Agent Janet Coleman. She meets her agents in the round table room.

"Good morning, I am agent Janet Coleman and am the unit supervisor of the new BAU unit known as the child division, you are its main agents. Jennifer will remain as the liaison between the unit and the outside world. You will deal with the BAU liaison to determine which cases are most needed by the child division. You will also be the voice and face for dealing with the adults who will question your authority but don't allow them to get the better of you. Derek is still our obsession expert but you will focus on the obsession of the child predator, you're insights will be invaluable to that. You will also be used in different scenarios of being placed into danger of possible kidnapping or what may be needed for catching predators of children of your age. David is our main profiler and the second in command to me in dealing with you. He will also be placed in positions of possible dangers. Each of you three will have your own desks here in the bull pen while Emily and Spencer will share a desk because when one of them is here, the other is not. Because of their young ages, they will work every other day, Emily will be here Monday, Wednesday and Friday while Spencer will work on Tuesday and Thursday. When going out into the field if it is necessary, we hope to take both agents in order to have a full complement of agents. Are there any questions so far?"

"What kinds of cases are there? Will we be working with the department of missing and exploited children?"

"Yes, we will be working with the department and the cases will be children who have gone missing and/or have been killed. The purpose of your group is to protect but more importantly help to discover who the predators are and get them off the streets. The first weeks will be a period of adjustments and the appraising of cold cases and see what we can do about them and creating profiles of them. There is a pile of cold case files on each desk except Jennifer's. Her desk has current cases that need to be addressed. So let us get to work."

The meeting breaks up and the agents go to their modified desk areas which are designed and sized for the smaller bodies that they have. At noon, Janet asks them to take a break and eat the lunches that momma had sent with each of them. Today, there are ham and cheese sandwiches, vegetable sticks of celery, carrots and beets, and chocolate chip cookies. Momma sent a half-gallon of milk for them as well. They know that they have to eat and drink what she sends because if they don't she will know. They don't how but they believe they she will know.

By three o'clock in the afternoon, Emily is dragging because she is only five and all that reading and work is more than her small body can really take. Janet notices and goes to her desk.

"Emily are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, just a little tired."

"Maybe you should rest for an hour."

"I can't do that ma'am, I am at work and that is what I need to be doing."

"You have under your desk, something that can be unfolded and we were kind of wondering if it would be necessary and seeing you right now I think it is." Emily reaches below and unfolds a mattress with a blanket.

"What is this for ma' am."

"It is for you to take a nap on, your momma insisted on providing one and thinks that both you and Spencer will need to rest for about an hour or so after lunch. Why don't you lay down for an hour or so? If it gets to be too long, I'll wake you, but otherwise I would rather you were wide awake in your reading and profiling than making mistakes by being too tired."

"But I am not too tired."

"Yes you are. Lay down now." She looks at her and sees the determination in the older person's face and decides to obey her. She lies down and covers up with the blanket and was asleep in less than five minutes.

At 5:30, our agents close up for the day and are heading home. Emily is feeling much better and worked better after her nap but the others are feeling very tired and Derek actually falls asleep in the car on the way home while David and Jennifer are struggling not to nod off themselves. They talk quietly and are happy when the SUV pulls up in front of the house and they get out after having woken Derek up about five minutes earlier when the vehicle got off the beltway. It was four tired but happy bodies that come in and take off their coats and boots. They go to say hi and hug momma who is happy to see them and puts them to work on their chores for dinner.

At the dinner table the agents talk about the different cases and what Agent Janet said about what they are supposed to do and that Spencer and Emily will trade days but share the same desk.

"Oh goodie, I get to work tomorrow. " says Spencer, smiling and jumping up a little in his seat.

"You just keep our mutual desk clean and in good condition." responds Emily.

"I will keep it as clean as you do."

Momma breaks in and says, "Each of you should take a drawer in the desk that is for your personal stuff that you use and don't want the other to use. Share and maintain a clean work space but have a drawer for your own personal use."

"That sounds like a good idea. " each of them answers while looking at each other.

That night, the family spends time in the playroom until the younger children go to bed and the older children then do things for themselves. At ten the rest go to bed and the day ends.


	4. BTW Tuesday

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Four. Back to Work – Tuesday

When morning comes, our four agents head to Quantico while momma and the three children she has at home go to the institute where momma again sits to read the reports and analysis being done by her assistants. Emily goes to the day care center in year five and Sean is in the education room for older children who don't attend the public school but are instead enrolled here and taught 'at home'. Momma would love to put Aaron in the day care center but he still refuses to stay there. So he sits on the floor of her office and plays with the toys that she has brought for him. He also practices using crayons, pencils and other writing instruments on paper, his writing is still atrocious but it won't improve without practice.

After a few hours, he comes to stand by her side and she looks at him with interest.

"Rebecca, I am hungry and not feeling very comfortable."

"Well, let us get you cleaned up and eat a little. Although I really wish you would allow others to care for you. This does prevent me from doing what I need to be working on. I would love to check on the machines but I can't do that with you hanging on me. I am not taking you to that area. It is kept very cold and unless I put in your snowsuit you cannot go in there. I don't need you getting another ear infection."

"What would you be going to the machines to do?"

"I want to actually see the work that is being done. The machine that has you and your agents in it is being slowly and carefully cleaned and the melted plastic is being removed. We don't want to do it too quickly because it may do more damage to the machine or to the microdisk that your adult information is located on. We are trying to reach it so we can read it and I would like to see how they are working on it. But as long as you are with me that is not going to happen."

"I am sorry Rebecca. I just don't want strangers taking care of me." She takes her little man and sits him on the desk in front of her.

"I know that you don't want that but it is because of your adult sensibilities not because you are thinking of what is best or logical. You feel embarrassed or humiliated when someone else does it and you shouldn't. Other people don't see you as an adult or the way that I do. They see a small child that needs to be looked after, not a grown man who can make that decision for himself."

"I know but that doesn't make me want them to take care of me, even if I need it." He stood up on her lap and gave her a big hug, which she returned with as much fervor.

At noon, she and Aaron go eat with Sean while Emily ate with her class and then she takes Aaron to the baby room where she rocks him to sleep for his afternoon nap. While he naps she goes to the machines room and has a meeting with her assistants about the machines and the use of them for the agencies who are sending in requests. There is discussion about the broken one and its repair. For three hours the meeting continues until someone from the baby room knocks at the door and momma has to excuse herself from the meeting to check on her baby boy. When she gets to the room, the irritation that she is exuding is palatable at her little man. He runs to her and grabs her around the legs. She looks down at him.

She says, "Aaron, I am in a meeting right now and I can't have you there with me. You will be staying here." She picks him up and changes his diaper and then gives him to the room teacher who has to struggle to keep him in her arms. Momma walks out to head back to the meeting and Aaron screams as he is put down into the toy area. He runs over to the closed half-door and struggles with opening it up but after fifteen minutes of trying he collapses into tears and runs to a corner where he sulks and pouts with an occasional sniffle.

**BAU Headquarters**

Our four agents arrive and Spencer meets Janet at the morning meeting. He goes to his desk that he shares with Emily and checks out the files that are there. He opens the drawers and selects one for himself and emptied it of everything else and then labeled it with his name. He starts to read the files that are there and to present his ideas about them and who may have created the crimes indicated in the files.

After several hours, Spencer starts to wiggle in his seat because he needs to go to the bathroom. The problem is that he not allowed to go to the bathroom alone, especially public bathrooms, not that there should be any problems of somebody hurting him but he can't sit on the toilet by himself and he has difficulty reaching over the bowl to pee even. He can't reach the faucet to wash his hands. But he doesn't want to ask one of his fellow agents to help him. His adult pride doesn't want to feel humiliated by having to ask for help to go to the bathroom. David watched him wiggle and wiggle in his seat and it looked so cute as he knew that the boy needed to go but wasn't going to ask for help.

Janet was also watching Spencer as he wiggled in his seat and wondered if she should help him out and take him to the bathroom. But if she does, should she take him to the women's or the men's room. She doesn't want to go into the men's room but the purpose of taking Spencer to the bathroom is to help him use the toilet and wash his hands. She gets up from her desk just as David got up and went to him.

"You look a little wiggly Spencer, anything I can do to help you become less wiggly?"

"Could you take me to the bathroom Rossi?"

"Come on little boy." Smiling David takes Spencer by the hand. Janet feels relieved that Rossi got to him first; she wasn't exactly looking forward to putting one of her agents on the toilet, although she has a good chance of doing so with either of her little ones, Spencer or Emily.

At the bathroom, David got the toilet ready while Spencer took down his pants. David lifted the boy on the toilet and held him there until he finished the job. Taking him down, Spencer wiped his bottom and redressed. The boys walk to the sink and David washes his hands and then lifts Spencer to help him wash his own hands.

Meanwhile back in her office Janet decides to order some stools for Spencer to use to use the toilet and the sink to wash his hands. She went online and ordered some collapsible ones so they can be kept in the bathroom and they were lightweight enough for the boy to lift and use.

The boys go back to work and after lunch, Spencer gets out the mat and lies down to take a nap, what he forgot is that he should go to the bathroom before because when he is asleep he has a tendency to have little control. He usually will wear pull-ups at home during nap time and sometimes wakes up having used them. What will happen at work during nap time?

We find out ninety minutes later when Spencer wakes up and finds his pants wet. He whines, "Oh no, not here."

Derek hears him and turns to him and asks, "What do mean not here Reid?"

"I woke up with wet pants."

"Oh no you didn't?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Let me tell David about it and maybe we can figure out something to clean you up and maybe momma sent some extra pants for you."

"That would mean that she thinks that I would do this."

"Momma's pretty smart about anticipating what we might need."

Derek goes over to David's desk and says, "Dave, Spencer has a problem."

"What would that be?"

"He has awakened from his nap with wet pants." David looks at him with a look of mild surprise.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"I am going to have to talk to Janet about it. Spencer might be too young to work." He gets up from his desk and goes to Janet's office. She looks up at the door.

"Come in Dave. What is it?"

"Spencer has awakened from his nap and wants to get back to work."

"That would be a good thing for him to do, but this is hardly news that I needed to know about. Is there a problem that I should know about?"

"He woke up with wet pants."

"I see, that would be embarrassing for him. However, your momma has anticipated little problems like this." She gets up and goes over to a file cabinet that does not have files in it but clothing for her agents. There are outfits for each of them. She pulls out pairs of pants and underwear for Spencer and hands them to David.

"Do you have clothes for all of us?"

"Yes, even you David, but there are more pairs for Spencer and Thursday, he will change into pull-ups before he takes his nap."

"You don't think that he might be a little young for working."

"The director and momma don't think so and they are the ones in charge of this. We are doing what they want us to do."

"Do you think they are right in doing this department and what we are setting ourselves up to do?"

"Spencer still has his intelligence and knowledge and that is why he will come to work twice a week and do what he is doing. I don't care if we have to clean him when he wets his pants. That is what we will do. He continues to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. His young age is why he only works two days a week."

David takes the clothes and then takes Spencer to the bathroom to clean him up and help him put the clean clothes on.

Spencer says, "I feel so embarrassed by this and yet where did these clean clothes come from."

"It seems that momma anticipated this and sent clothes to Janet to keep in case this might happen, she has clothes for all of us."

"Even you?"

"Even me. Let us go back to work."

Several hours later they are heading back home making sure that Spencer went to the bathroom before getting in the vehicle. As usual, Derek falls asleep in the car and Spencer napped as well while Jennifer and Dave talked about the day.

When momma came later to pick up her children, she got Sean first and had him get Emily. Momma went to the baby room and talked quietly with the primary teacher before letting Aaron know that she was there.

"How was he today?"

"After you left, he screamed and tried to open the door and then went to sit in a corner where he has stayed pouting." Momma is very disappointed at hearing this, she really wants Aaron to accept that he needs to be around strangers and that they sometimes might have to care for him.

"Did he get a snack?"

"No, he wouldn't move from the corner." At this news momma goes in and gets her little boy, he sees her coming and stands up with his arms in the air ready to be lifted up. When she lifts him, he puts his face into her shoulder.

He says, "Missed you mommy." She doesn't respond but takes him to the changing table to clean him up and put his snowsuit on him. They go to meet Sean and Emily and head home.

At dinner that night, momma heard about Spencer's problem with keeping dry. She had noticed that he wore a different pair of pants coming home from when he had left that morning.

"Did you bring the wet clothes and blanket back with you so they can be washed?"

Jennifer answers, "Yes. It was good that you anticipated that it might occur."

"I try to anticipate the needs of my child agents."

Derek asks, "How was your day mommy?"

"It was an okay day for me, I was disappointed again in someone's behavior but I did have a good meeting with my assistants about the machine and its repair."

"Is there any news of that being done soon?"

"No, it's a slow process and we want it slow and methodical because we don't to damage it further. Our hope is that the disc has been protected and is not corrupted. But until we get to it and analyze it we won't know."

Jennifer says, "You know I heard that the director is having a big meeting on Thursday with a large group of people about national security issues."

"You did? Well, it is true, he is having a meeting. He was hoping to be able to have a profiler in the room with room to give him good analysis of the other people, but the person he wants isn't able at this time." Momma looks pointedly at Aaron as she says this and he looks at her questioningly. "He needs someone comfortable around strangers and able to have their needs met if needed be by a stranger."

Spencer says, "Well, I could do it."

"That is true you could do it, I'll call him tomorrow if you would be a good match for the meeting. You might be a little too old for what he wants."

"Well, how about Aaron, he's not too old."

"Aaron has shown himself to be too young for the job. He doesn't like to be around strangers and have them take care of him. He is just too clingy to family right now. But there is always hope for a future time."

Aaron looks at momma as she looks at him and finally realizes in his own mind that momma wasn't putting him in the day care because she didn't want him around. She wanted him to be able to be around strangers so that he could work in a meeting of strangers. Can he prove to her that he can do that? He really didn't think that he would ever be able to work again, but if he can then he would feel like the man that he keeps forgetting that he is. The baby and woman look at each other with a renewed understanding.

Later that night when momma was putting him to bed he says, "Give me a chance tomorrow."

She looks at him with mild distrust but answers, "It will be the last chance. If you act badly tomorrow then you will not be going to the day care center again and you will not be able to assist the director in his meetings."

"I understand Rebecca."

She kisses him and tucks him into his crib. She leaves the room and checks on her other children, several of whom were already asleep.


	5. BTW Wednesday

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Five. Back to Work - Wednesday

The car comes to pick up our agents to take them to Quantico where Emily notices the drawer that Spencer took for himself and then took another for her stuff. She works with the others on the case files that are in front of her. The team just works on what is there. There have been new cases coming in but so far the local law enforcement agencies are just requesting help in ideas rather than on the ground. So our agents are sending ideas to the problems that are presented to them.

At the house, momma takes her boys to the institute for the day. She drops Spencer off in year four room and Sean heads up to the education room for the older children. She goes to the toddler room to see Ms. Olson again; Aaron with some trepidation goes into her arms. He looks forlornly as she walks out of the room and heads to her office to work, she will go to the machines later that day to see the assistants since she won't be back until the next week. She checks out the treasury and finances of the institute and signs checks and payments for services and employees.

Aaron discovers that being in the toddler room is not too bad. They give the children a breakfast like meal at 8:30 and then the children play all morning, at 9:30 the assistants go around and pick up the children one by one to change diapers. Aaron did not even notice until all of a sudden two arms lifted him and had him on the table with his pants down before he had a chance to react and say no. He decided not to squirm but to accept the indignity that he feels while the person above changes his diaper. He closes his eyes and imagines that it is momma but the woman isn't as gentle he thinks. In less than a two minutes, the ordeal is over and he is back down on the floor to go play some more. Although it is not all play, there is a story time for when the children sit around and listen to the teacher read a story.

At twelve, the children are changed once more and then placed at the table in the room for lunch. They are given spoons to eat with and food is placed before them, today it is a macaroni hamburger casserole, they are given cups of milk and bibs are placed on them but the children are encouraged and taught to feed themselves at the meal. Aaron does well and is pleased with his performance for the day so far. After lunch, they are taken outside for a little while to play in the toddler play yard with its large balls, push and pull and ride on toys. Aaron has fun with the others in running around and playing with the toys. Outside time is over too soon in his mind because they bring the children in and it is now nap time on the mats that had been spread around. Each child goes to the mat that has their blanket on it. Aaron did not know where to go until Ms. Olson places him on a mat that had a blanket that he did recognize from home. It had mommas scent on it and he snuggled under it and fell asleep right away.

Spencer's day is similar to Aaron's but does have some slight changes. He eats the breakfast meal and then plays until music time at 10:00 when each child is given a handheld musical instrument and encouraged to play with the teacher in rhythm, it was a noisy cacophony of sounds. But Spencer loved doing it. Potty time was after music when the children were taken to the toilet room to use them and wash their hands after. From the potty room they went to the dining room where the children sit and are given a plate of macaroni hamburger casserole with a spoon and fork and a cup of milk. After lunch, is time outside on the big playground, Spencer actually sees Aaron over in the toddler play yard and for a few minutes watches him playing with the ride-on plane he was on. He then turns back to running to the jungle gym set and started climbing. After a while the children are brought back in and they run to their mats to take their naps. This was not Spencer's first time so he went over to where his mat is with its blanket, but one of the assistants detours him and takes him to the potty first. He is encouraged to use the toilet and then a pull-up is put on him for nap time. He then goes back and gets on his mat, he falls asleep within minutes.

Sean's day is vastly different from the other boys; there is not a set schedule for him. When he gets there, he goes over and eats a little more breakfast and then he decides what group he wants to join that morning. Today there is a music group with a band playing, a group of artists painting free flowing, a group to thespians rehearsing for the next play and another group of children doing a math lesson. He decides to join the music group today and the other kids welcome him. He does know a little about guitar and so he is given one and he begins to jam with group. For two hours there is a great deal of fun and jamming. The next set of groups is a biology experiment and lab work, history object lesson, sculpture and a writing and composition lesson (grammar).

The way the education room is set up, is that there are four groups of lessons going on at all times for a two hour period. Each period has different lessons. The lessons for each day and the periods of the day have been scheduled by the adult teachers of the room. The kids choose the lesson that they want to learn that period for that day. We should not assume that the kids will always choose the so-called fluff or art class because there are many who actually want to learn other things. The history class is quite popular because they do more than just memorize the facts they actually are encouraged to live them. Many students find it fascinating to become the historical figures in class. The science classes are also quite popular with their lab work.

Sean decides on history that morning because they were doing an American history lesson of the revolutionary war about Paul Revere and his famous ride. He found it interesting about the significance about the ride and why it was an important focal point in the war of independence for America.

When this period is over, there is a lunch period with the same food that the little boys are eating except that the older kids also get a fresh garden salad and fruit salad to eat. After lunch is a period of physical education for all the children. They play different games, each day is different. Some of the games are softball, dodge ball, statue, volleyball, archery, rodeo roping and lassoing and a variety of other physical games. Today is a lesson in crossbow archery. Sean finds it a fascinating lesson. The last period for today has four lessons in chemistry and lab work, American government in action, astronomy and Chinese characterization (language writing). Sean chose astronomy in this period. He is finding this education method interesting and taking classes that he never took when he was attending public school and learning things that he didn't know before. Each day is different and he is actually enjoying going to school.

Momma has been having a good day at work and is once more sitting in her office after meeting once again with her assistants. It is about 3:30 in the afternoon when there was a knock at the door and a teacher assistant from the four year room stood there with Spencer. Spencer was crying and the assistant was holding an ice pack to his head. He goes running over to momma and puts his head into her shoulder.

"What happened?" He just cried louder.

The assistant, Karen, says, "He slipped on the concrete out in the playground and hit his head."

"Oh." She picks him up and puts him on her lap and begins to rock him with the ice pack still on his head. "Could you bring his coat and things up here for me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

To Spencer, she says, "Does it hurt really badly Spencer? Should we have Dr. Hovde look at it?"

Spencer shakes his head no but to which question?

"Sweetie, you need to speak to me."

He looks at her and then puts his thumb in his mouth and leans back onto her chest. She hugs and begins to rock him.

Karen brings the coat back up and momma has her get her coat as well before following her to the medical floor with her boy in her arms. She gets there to ask if Dr. Hovde could take a look at Spencer before she heads home with her boys.

The doctor does a cursory look over the boy and diagnoses that it is just a bump and he will have a headache and some soreness for a few days. He gives a scrip for pain reliever and momma and Spencer head to pick up Sean in the education room. She has the assistant call a cab to take them home since she doesn't want to wait for the bus.

She gathers the two boys and puts Spencer's coat and boots on.

Sean asks, "What happened to Spencer?" He looks at him and sees the ice pack and the slightly unfocused eyes of the boy in her arms.

"He fell on the playground and banged his head pretty good and since I was fairly finished with what I needed to do today I thought we might just head home."

They head to the toddler room where Aaron is sitting at the table eating his snack of goldfish and milk after having his diaper just changed. He looks up at momma with the other boys and gets up and runs over to her and grabs her by the legs.

"Sweetheart, would you let Sean put your snowsuit on you so that we can go. I want to talk to the Ms. Olson before we leave." He didn't want to but did allow it to happen. "Ms. Olson, how was he today?"

"Surprisingly, very good, it was a complete reversal of his previous behavior. I think he even enjoyed some of the day."

"Good." Momma turns and sees her boys are ready to go. They head to the front door and the cab is already there waiting for them.

When they get home, momma puts Spencer into his night clothes and rocks him with a fresh ice pack on his head until he falls asleep and she puts him into his bed with Spunky in his arms. She heads downstairs to find out what the other boys were doing. Sean was holding Aaron and telling him about his day and what he did in the education room while Aaron asked questions at the right time to encourage his brother to talk about the day with the excitement of a thirteen year old who enjoys going to school. Although, it appeared to be the big brother talking to the little brother, it only appeared that way. In this case, the younger brother was telling his older brother about his day. Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. She leaves them to their talk and calls up Quantico to ask Janet to have them send the agents home early today. She tells her about Spencer's accident and that she will keep an eye on him as to whether he should come in the next day.


	6. Snowday Thursday

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Six. Snow Day

Thursday

Momma did not look at the weather report the night before; if she had she knew that she would not be sending her agents to Quantico. When she woke up at 6:00, the visibility was zero and so she called the agent who picked up her agents and told him not to come that any work can be done here at home. She then called Janet and told her as well. The fax machine would be up all day and any new information can be sent by way of that. She closed the door to Spencer and Derek's room and then closed Emily's room. She did not want the older children waking the younger ones up unnecessarily.

Heading down to the kitchen, she started to cook a hot breakfast and then to prepare other finger type foods for later in the day, in case the power went out. She went to the basement in the storage room and got kerosene lanterns for the main rooms of the house. She also got the headlight flashlight to carry with her in case of an outage. Soon the older children began to come down the stairs, only being a little quiet. They had dressed for going to the office and were surprised when they wouldn't be going to the office because the snow and ice made it not an option. After eating the breakfast laid out they went to change into more casual warm clothes while the younger children finally woke up and came down in just their night sleepers, Sean had picked up Aaron out of his crib when he heard him calling out. After the little ones ate breakfast and then went to get dressed with an older one helping out. Penelope was the last to come out of her room since she did not get home until after two in the morning because of the weather.

After dressing, the family meets down stairs in the basement playroom and play games, like sorry, parchesi and candy land. Soon Penelope went to the computer room to catch up on what was happening. Sean and Jennifer went to do some science experiments in the science room that momma had created. It has a half-door which cannot be opened unless you have the security key. Momma set it up like that to prevent little hands from getting in there, even though our young ones with little hands are intellectually able they are not physically capable of doing these types of experiments so momma prevents them from doing it. David and Derek have found some water guns and started to run around trying to hit each one another, Spencer wanted to get in on the action and they found a gun for both him and Emily and soon there are squeals, screams, and thumps of four children running around the playroom and the entire basement was awash in spreading water all over the place. Momma doesn't mind, she knows it will all dry. Aaron thought about joining them but instead he fired his gun from the safety of momma's arms in her rocking chair. He was always on target and deadly with his shots.

When Sean and Jennifer came out later from their experiments and noticed the others running around. They head into the main room and are immediately drenched by five guns pointed at them. That is when momma put an end to it. She tells those two that they can get their revenge later. But now she wants everyone to change into dry clothes and get ready for lunch which she heads upstairs with Aaron on her hip to prepare. She has Spencer go up with her and has him go potty before getting him in dry clothes. The kids come in to dining room to see soup, sandwiches, salad and kool-aid waiting for them to chow down. The weather outside is still showing a torrent of snow coming down, seven inches already and it is predicted there could be another five to seven more before it ends. Momma is trying to make sure that they get warm meals in case the power goes out and they have to deal with just cold cuts and cereals.

After lunch, they had back downstairs because it is the warmest place in the house being less open than the upstairs area. Momma rocks Aaron to sleep for his afternoon nap and Penelope is sitting in another rocking chair with Spencer to do the same thing. Emily lied down on a mat under her blanket with her baby doll and was soon napping. Derek was playing with the Lego blocks making a helicopter. David is going to put a puzzle together when he sees Spencer is asleep. Jennifer and Sean join him at the card table to help put the 1000 piece puzzle together. After Spencer is asleep, momma has Penelope put him in the crib downstairs while she put Aaron next to him in the crib. Both boys fit fine together. Although Spencer will not like waking up in the crib, momma didn't want him on the floor today, he has been sniffling too much and she wants him in a warmer area than the floor.

Momma decides to take advantage of the quiet and lied back in the rocking chair with her eyes closed until she was disturbed by Derek coming to sit in her lap with a book in his hands and an expectant look on his face. She smiled and cuddled him and began to read to him. Penelope went to work on the puzzle with the others. An hour later, Emily woke up and went to play with her dolls in the little house in the corner of the room. Derek actually got off momma's lap and went to go play with her in order to keep her company. She smiled at him and the two began to play together. Less than thirty minutes later, Spencer begins to squirm and momma got him out of the crib since she did not want him to wake Aaron. He woke up in her arms and she took him potty and then took his temperature since he felt warm to her. It was slightly elevated so she gave him some medication and had him drink a glass of water. She took him back to the chair with her and cuddled him with rocking and reading stories. The older children got the puzzle completely together and came over to listen to momma read. Momma asks Penelope and Jennifer if they could fix today's snack and bring it down. The girls were delighted to have something to do and ran upstairs to get the plate of brownies that momma made and the hot chocolate mix to fix downstairs in the little wet bar area that has a refrigerator, hot plate and microwave.

The afternoon goes by and as evening came down, all the kids were up and they went upstairs where momma had made macaroni and cheese with hotdogs for dinner. The snow had finally stopped coming down and momma begins to prepare for the morning commute. She fully expects the snowplows to work throughout the night to have the main streets and streets with bus routes on them to be cleared. The house in on a bus route so she expects the children will be able to work tomorrow. The director calls and tells her that he wants Aaron to come to see him tomorrow as the meeting he was to have today was postponed until tomorrow and the director wants Aaron to profile the people he is meeting.

Because she expects tomorrow to be a busy day, she has all the children dressed and ready for bed by 9 pm, even though they all protested it was too early. She didn't listen to the protests but allowed them all to sit on her bed with her while she read a fictional book until the little ones heads began to droop and her voice started to tire. At which time all of them went to bed and there were no bad dreams tonight.


	7. BTW Friday

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Seven. Back to Work

Friday

Momma woke up and began her day of getting up young agents who preferred to sleep later and then having breakfast ready and eaten before Jackson arrives to take David, Jennifer, Derek and Emily to the BAU headquarters in Quantico and then Penelope takes the bus to the FBI headquarters in downtown D.C.. Momma is left with Sean, Spencer and Aaron and is taking Sean and Spencer to the institute today while Aaron will be going to the FBI headquarters in the afternoon. She and the boys catch the bus to the institute and momma drops off all her boys, two in the daycare and one in the education room.

She heads to the machinery room which is kept at an average of 45 degrees Fahrenheit and most everyone has several layers of clothes on in order to handle it.

"Ross."

"Momma, what are doing here? You won't usually come in on Fridays."

"Today is special. Would you come to dinner tonight and bring Sean and Spencer home with you?"

"You aren't picking them up yourself?"

"I probably won't get here in time to do so. Please bring them to the house."

"Sure, what time?"

"Just be home by 6:30 pm. I will see you then." Momma heads back out the door and checks on Sean who is taking the history class again. This time it is about a period in Chinese history. In the daycare, Spencer is playing with the other kids in the gym, where they are playing with parachutes and pulling them up and down and going in and out. His coordination is similar to the other four-year olds and sometimes they do fall down. Aaron is in the toddler room where they are currently taking a nap. They had been in the gym a half hour earlier running with the big balls and riding the planes, trains and other ride on toys. It tired out their little bodies immensely. Momma headed up to see Dr. Hovde, who finally got the results of the physicals of the children. Momma took the results to her office to read them and get a handle on her children.

What she finds intrigues her but also it is also worrisome. It seems the machine did not place them at the same as when they were originally made, it took into account the dates and made them the age they would have been in late December before they were changed. In other words, the children are four months younger than they should be according to their physicals. This makes Aaron closer to 11/12 months and Spencer just turned four years instead of five three months ago while Emily will be six again in six months rather than two months. Derek is only a late seven with him turning eight in two months instead of already being eight. David is similar in that he will turn eleven in three months. Jennifer's birthday is less than four weeks away and she will be twelve and not thirteen like she was hoping. Sean who was not in the original set up is actually the only normal one at thirteen while Penelope who was set up to be nineteen is actually closer to eighteen in physical attributes. Not that there is a lot of differences between the later teen years, but hormones and internal structures are different between the ages. Most people don't realize that your age can be determined closely when you are young but not so much as we get older, then it is only within a few years accurate.

Momma wonders how these results will affect their ability to work. Can Spencer and Emily handle the stress of working, as well as looking at the death masks of the children killed or maimed? Momma makes up a report for the director about the results and her concerns. At noon, she goes to check on Spencer who is just getting ready to eat lunch, when he sees her; he gets up from the table and runs to her.

"Hello sweetie, I am going to be gone all afternoon and Ross is going to bring you and Sean home. Do you remember Ross?"

"Yeah, he is the guy you went out with last July. But where are you going?"

"Sometimes, mommy's need time for themselves. You be good this afternoon and try not to hurt yourself." She bends down and kisses him. She then heads up to the education room to see Sean, who is also eating lunch. Going over to him and sitting in the empty seat next to him.

"Hello kids, Sean."

There is a chorus of Hi's to the doctor, most know her. She is a very hands on director of the institute and knows all of the children in the institute.

Sean asks, "Is there something up mom?'

"Yeah, I have to leave and I won't be able to be back in time to take you and Spencer home so I want you to go home with Ross. You have not met Ross. He is my main assistant here at the institute and Spencer met him when he and I went to dinner one night to discuss the results of the tests and reports of the experiment. He is a good man and I want you to be good to him."

"I will. You said only me and Spencer, what about Aaron?"

"Aaron is going with me downtown to see the director."

"He is going to be in the meeting?"

"If he behaves himself well enough." They both smile at that when they think of how Aaron has been behaving.

"I'll see you tonight mom." She gets up to leave but embarrasses the thirteen year old boy by kissing him on his head. The other kids do what is expected, they laugh and he blushes.

Momma then heads to the toddler room to pick up her baby boy. She gets to the room and he is sitting at the table eating lunch. She talks to Ms. Olson about his morning.

"He was good this morning. He had a little breakfast and then played here before we went to the gym and he ran around chasing the big balls. We came back and changed diapers and laid down for naps because they were tired bodies."

"Did he have a problem with the diaper change?"

"No, he just took it like the others; the assistant would pick him up and have them done before they have a chance to wiggle." The women laugh at this

They watched as he used the spoon to feed himself but sometimes he just put his left hand in and brought it to his mouth instead of using the spoon in his right hand. He would pick up the cup of milk to drink and spill some on his bib while drinking. He finished everything on his plate and the assistant took him out of his chair and to the sink to wash off his hands and face while she removed his bib. He finally sees momma and smiles his half toothless grin and runs over when he is cleaned up. She picks him up.

"Are you ready to go spend time with grandpa?"

He nodded his head yes and momma puts his snowsuit on him. She takes a cab to the FBI headquarters and while in the cab, Aaron drinks the bottle she feeds him and he falls asleep in her arms for a small nap on the way to see the director. When they get to the headquarters, the noise and bustle of the metal detectors and key cards wake him up. Before momma gets into the elevator, they go to the bathroom where Aaron is changed and put into a clean suit to see grandpa. They get into the elevator and when the door opens onto the floor of the director, Aaron runs out and goes to the closed door to the office and begins to pound on it. The secretary looks at this little one pounding at the door and then sees Dr. Anderson come in and she buzzes the door so that the doctor and Aaron go in. Before momma gets to the door however, it is opened and the director opens it to find out who is banging on his door, Aaron runs in before the director sees him. However the director does see the doctor.

"Hello Rebecca, I thought you were bringing Aaron."

"I did."

"I don't see him." He looks around the room.

"You need to look behind you." The director looks puzzled and turns around to see Aaron trying to climb into his seat at the desk.

He walks over and picks him up and places him on the desk in front of him.

"Good afternoon Aaron."

"Hello grandpa."

"Do you know what I want from you today?"

"I believe so sir and I hope I can perform well for you."

"We shall see."

Momma breaks in and says, "I will be back later. Do not overtire him. There is a bag full of diapers and bottles with some food for a snack later." She goes over and kisses both on the forehead and leaves the room.

The director says, "Who does she mean when she says not to overtire him, me or you?" Aaron smile and shrugs his shoulders.

When the meeting starts thirty minutes later, Aaron is introduced as his grandson and is allowed to walk around the people and he would check out each person and in his mind did a profile of each. There were a few that allowed him on their laps and he would look at the papers or stuff that was sitting in front of the people. After a few hours, he got tired and went to sit in grandpa's lap who gave him a bottle and the baby took a small nap for about an hour. When he woke up, he got a small snack and once again began to look at the people and their physical behaviors to what they say. Shortly after five, the people began to get up and leave. Their agenda was completed and they wanted to head home or prepare to go out that night to the Kennedy Center or the theatre or party. The director takes Aaron back to his office to wait for momma to pick him up. They talk and Aaron gives him his basic impressions but will give a more thorough profile of the behaviors of his guests in a written report.

When momma arrives, Aaron jumps off grandpa's lap and runs over to her, she picks him up and tickles him senseless.

"Hello Bob, how was the day?"

"It went very well. I was pleased with my agent grandson's performance." She started to put the snowsuit on Aaron.

"I have children already heading home and I don't want it to be to an empty house, so we have to go."

"I'll call you later about your report."

"You do that." She and Aaron leave and arrive home just minutes before Ross arrives with Spencer and Sean and then less than fifteen minutes later, our child agents arrive.

Around the dinner table is a lot of voices talking about what they did and momma trying to hear them all because each of her agents deserve her attention about their days and the cases they worked on that day. Ross stays until late playing games with the family downstairs. The little ones fell asleep while playing and momma took them up to their beds while those still awake continued to play until momma finally says the night is over and the children are put to bed.

.


	8. Down the Hill

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Eight. Down the Hill

Saturday

Sean wakes up and goes over to momma's room and sees that she is still sleeping. He is going to talk with the others to be quiet and let her sleep in today. He goes to the crib where Aaron is awake and takes him out, changes his diaper and takes him downstairs after closing the door so momma can sleep. He goes to the little boys' room and sees they are awake as well. He tells them to be quiet and has them go downstairs in their sleepers for breakfast. He then go upstairs and gets Emily from her room and then sees Jennifer and David and they all go down to the kitchen. Sean cooks breakfast and they all go down to the playroom afterwards.

It is there that momma finds them many hours later with Penelope and watching cartoons or playing in the toy box.

"What is going on here?" Several faces look up and a few bodies come running to her.

"Mommy."

"Sean said we had to be quiet so you could sleep."

"Good morning mommy."

Momma looks at Sean when she heard that he was the one who let her sleep in.

He says, "I hope you don't mind that I made breakfast and everything so that you could sleep in."

"No I don't mind, thank you for allowing me to sleep in."

He gets up and goes over to her and says, "Momma, there is a large hill at the park up the street and they are allowing people to come and slide down on it with sleds and stuff. I was wondering if you could let us go slide down the hill today."

"Is that why you wanted me sleep in? Trying to bribe me into letting you do it?"

"No, I just thought you the needed the extra rest. But can we go sledding this afternoon?"

"Yes there is a toboggan, two circular sleds and a baby sled in the shed out in the back. But I am not going. Penelope will go as the adult supervision. Does everybody want to go?"

There is a chorus of yeses.

"Aaron, do you want to go?" He nods his head yes. "You will listen and obey Penelope and Sean?" Another nod yes. "Well, how about lunch first and then everybody can get into their snowsuits."

There was a thunderous roar as eight sets of feet came up the stairs from the basement playroom. Momma led the way firmly believing that one of the older children will pick up Aaron and bring him up. He cannot walk up by himself; he can't pull himself on the steps yet, but works on it daily. In the kitchen she begins to get pots out to make hot chicken noodle soup to go with the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk for lunch. Fifteen minutes later, everyone is seated at the table except she doesn't see Aaron.

"Did someone remember to bring Aaron up from the basement?" She looks at each of the older children who now have a look of horror on their faces when they realize that they didn't remember him. Sean jumps up and goes down to the basement.

"Aaron?!? Where are you?" He begins to search in and under everything because the little man is nowhere to be seen. Aaron watches him from his hiding place where he had come to sit when he realized that he had been forgotten. He had gone through the different feelings of disbelief, anger, worry and finally despair. He never got scared but that doesn't mean that if the time had been longer he might not have. Finally, Sean came near his hiding place and looked in and saw his brother sitting there looking at him. He sat down on the floor and looked at him.

"I'm sorry Aaron. I was so excited about lunch and going sledding that I forgot to pick up you when we went upstairs. I know momma was expecting one of us to do it otherwise she would have had you right away. The rest I think expected me to do it because except for Penelope I am the oldest and she focused on Spencer and Emily today. You were my responsibility, I am sorry I forgot about you. Please forgive me?" Sean looks at him with a sad despairing face. Aaron was still a little upset but he crawled out to his brother.

"I forgive you Sean." He hits him and then puts his arms out to be picked up.

"Ow." Sean smiles wryly and gets to his feet and picks Aaron up. The boys head upstairs and to the dining room, where Sean puts Aaron into his high chair and sits down for lunch.

An hour later, momma was finishing up getting the children ready to go play on the hill. She has everyone go to the potty and then puts a pull-up on Spencer and Emily before dressing them into jeans, t-shirt and sweater and then their purple and pink snowsuits. Derek gets dressed and puts on a green snowsuit. David's snowsuit is blue and Jennifer's is yellow. Even Sean had a snowsuit which was red. Aaron was put in his normal snowsuit which was a baby blue. They got the toboggan and sleds out of the shed and put Aaron into the baby sled, which Sean will pull him in while the others carry the other sliding things to the hill at the park.

"I want you home before dark, around 4:30." She hands a backpack to Penelope which holds baby bottles, bottles of water and some crackers for quick snacks. "Penelope, I need pictures." She hands her a camera and an adult child locater device. "Use this if someone wanders where they shouldn't."

**At The Hill**

The group was a rainbow of bodies that come into the park and look up at the high hill before them, there is a picnic table not far from the base where Penelope sets up, she will go up and slide down a little later when one of the older children can sit and watch their stuff. Sean takes Aaron out of his sled and carries him up the hill with one of the circular sleds in his other hand. David pulls the toboggan and Jennifer has another circular sled while the others walk behind them.

At the top of the hill, Sean gets in the sled and puts Aaron in his lap in front of him, pushes off and there are yells and squeals all the way down. David puts Spencer and Derek in front of him on the toboggan and there are more screams as the boys go sliding down the hill. Jennifer and Emily get into the circular sled and go twisting and turning all down the hill. When they reach the bottom, our children get off and tumble around tossing snowballs at each other and Sean climbed back up the hill with Aaron and Spencer follows behind. This time all three of the boys are coming down in the circular sled, screaming all the way especially when they twist and turn and fall out at the bottom. For the next two hours, our children play and slide in the snow enjoying each other's company and the company of other children also coming to play. Soon however, Aaron went over to where Penelope was sitting watching over her younger 'brothers and sisters'. He puts his head in her lap and she picks him up.

"Are you tired little man?"

He looks at her and sticks his thumb in his mouth and his head on her shoulder, she takes that as a yes and actually gets a bottle out for him and holds it while he sucks and falls asleep in her arms. She places him in the baby sled and covers him to keep the wind out. Spencer comes shortly after and crawls into her arms where she hands him a bottle of water and some crackers to eat. After eating a little he falls asleep in her arms. She had a blanket spread out on the table and put him on the blanket and covered him up. Emily came over and also drank and had some crackers before crawling into big sisters lap and rested for a little bit. The other children just kept playing with a snowball fight and some continued sledding.

About 4:00, our little ones had wakened and went to slide once more down the hill before Penelope gathered everybody up to head home for the day. It was shortly before 4:30 when eight tired bodies came through the back door, their snowsuits wet from snow and boots full of snow. Momma had them all out of those wet things and into warm dry clothes in fifteen minutes and then she had them at the dining room table with hot chocolate (warm for a few of them) and freshly made cookies and brownies. They began to tell her all about the things they did, including sledding, a snow ball fight, building an igloo which fell down and a snow man without any clothes. There were other families from the neighborhood and they had fun including them in their ventures and meeting some of the other children around. After they ate their snacks, some of the kids went to their rooms to relax (take a nap) while others went to the playroom and spent time with the toys.

A few hours later, they were back in the dining room eating dinner of tater tot casserole, a garden salad and kool-aid. Even though it was just a few hours after a snack they ate like they never ate before. The afternoon's outdoor activity made them very hungry. After dinner, momma had them take hot baths and get ready for bed. She is going to take them to church in the morning at the nearest Catholic Church to the house and to the national zoo in the afternoon. The house is only two blocks from the back entrance. Momma does try to make sure our agents have fun being children. She thinks that it is good for them to do so. It will help them forget and be able to work at their job of profiling and finding killers, pedophiles and predators of children. That is why on the weekends and whenever possible; her child agents will be children.


	9. Getting out the Go Bags

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

I would like to say thank you to all you read and review this story. It is a long chapter which will conclude in the next chapter. This is the first field case for our child agents. Can they truly handle being in the field?

Chapter Nine. Getting out the Go Bags

It is 5:00 pm on Sunday evening and our family is returning from spending the afternoon at the National Zoo. It was tired bodies coming in from walking around all afternoon. Momma had called a pizza delivery when they left the zoo and it arrived just after coats and boots were off and hot chocolate was made. The kids chowed down pizza, pasta, and breadsticks and talked about what they enjoyed about their day at zoo. They went to get ready for bed after eating and then went down to the playroom until bed time. At about 8:00 pm the phone rang and momma answered it.

"Hello."

"Hello Rebecca, this is Janet."

"Janet, what's the problem."

"I need the agents; we have been requested to help out in a missing child case in Minnesota. The child has been missing three hours now and they don't have any clues yet. They want young profilers who give us a sense of what's happening. I want all the kids and Sean to go. Will that be all right with you? Can you have them ready?"

"They are in their night clothes already, do they have to start work tonight or can we arrive tonight and start early morning?'

"If we can get there tonight, tomorrow morning they can give a good profile."

"Fax the information and get the jet ready, I'll have the children ready to be picked up by an agent in 30 minutes."

"Faxing now. Thanks." The ladies get off the phones. Momma goes to a small closet off the basement stairway which has a wall of metal shelves and on the shelves are ten different duffle bags of different colors and sizes. Each is labeled with a different person's name. She takes the one that does not have a name on it and heads upstairs. She just puts it down before heading back down.

"All right, everybody listen. That was Janet on the phone, the child division of the BAU unit has been requested to help in the locating of a missing child. There are go bags in the closet behind me and each of you will take your bag and head upstairs to put your snowsuits on. Sean, you have been requested to come along. Because this is your first case in this capacity I am going to go but beware I have no intention of preventing you from doing what you need to do to find this child. A car is coming to pick us up to go to the airport. Let's go kids."

"Shouldn't we get dressed first; we are in our sleeper pajamas."

"No, you can dress when we get there."

She walks back up the stairs after picking up two more bags which she takes to the front door and then took the other one to the kitchen and began to fill it with baby bottles, food and bottles of water and kool-aid. After fifteen minutes of filling this bag, she goes to check on how the kids are doing. She sees the go bags and notices the little ones have their snowsuits on and the older ones are putting theirs on. Momma heads back down to the basement and saw that all the bags are gone but she hasn't found Aaron yet. She checks out the basement and doesn't find him and heads back upstairs after turning off all the lights. Looking around the hall she finally sees him lying down on the couch in the living room with his snowsuit on. He was sleeping.

Ten minutes later, two black SUVs arrive in front and the family goes down and crowd into the vehicles, one of them had a car seat for Aaron and each had a booster seat for Spencer and Emily. Penelope wasn't asked to come but momma is having her come anyway. They get to the jet and meet Janet there. The kids each get a seat and buckle up. Momma makes sure the little ones are secure and then sits with Aaron in her lap. He is still sleeping. After they get into the air Janet discusses the case with the child agents and what is expected of them.

After the first discussion, the agents read the files that have been brought and then rest for awhile until they land at the airport in Bemidji Minnesota, home of the giant statue of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. A van for twelve is there to pick them up, a car seat and two boosters attached to some of the seats and the others climb into the remainder of the seats. They travel and approximately thirty minutes later, they arrive in Blackhawk, MN. A small town of less than 1,000 people of which 1/3 are under the age of eighteen and is a mostly rural with some businesses and a public school that has children from many of the area's small towns. There is one hotel where the sheriff is meeting them at.

Momma and Aaron get into the room and Janet introduces herself and the agents to the sheriff, who had been warned that the agents were in the form of children.

"Hello, I am sorry to have called you in at this hour and we would normally not have a problem with this, but we received information that leads us to believe that this is not just a missing child."

"That is why we are here. In order to help give a profile of the child and how he may be missing have gone missing. It is three o'clock in the morning and we can't go searching right now but I wanted to be here when you arrived and meet you. I look forward to working with you later to find this child. Good Night." The sheriff leaves and Janet goes to her room while the others go to the room momma is in. She already has the beds ready for them to climb into in order to sleep until daylight and they begin their search for the child.

At eight o'clock that morning, our agents are up and reviewing the files while eating breakfast. It seems the child was thought to be at a friend's house but when the parents went to pick him up it was discovered that he wasn't there. The child is twelve years old, a male, about 83 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes, 46 inches tall and doesn't normally go places alone, and this is why they think there has been foul play against the child. He was either abducted or went willingly with someone he knew. They begin to look at the reports from the parents and then when the sheriff arrives, the team splits up to question the parents and the family he had been staying with that day.

There are looks about the fact that there are children being used to find this missing child. However after talking with the parents and getting a feel of the area they are able to give a reasonable profile of what has happened to this child. Penelope has been able to get on line at the station and has been looking for information of the area, other missing children or people and the most likely of who may have taken the child. She has discovered a weird thing happening in that in the area there has been many missing children occurring over the past fifty years. The fact that a child goes missing every four to six months and yet most have never been found or even searched extensively for sounds unusual to her, yet when the sheriff is questioned he states he has not been told about most of the reports. It is a very small two person station and the near city of Bemidji has too many of its own crimes to cover to give the manpower needed. (Have to give some lame excuse).

Our team realizes that the only reason they were called in was because this child was the mentally disabled child of the wealthiest people in town. It seems that makes the child more important. Learning of the large number of missing children in the area, the team sets out to create a profile of the person who may have taken the child. The agents begin to read about the many other missing children and Reid begins to do a geographical profile of the different areas and sections of where the children were declared missing. The ages range from three to seventeen of more than 75 missing children over a period of forty-five years. It is because the children were from different small towns all around the area and even in some of the other counties around Penelope has discovered even more from the small towns of less than 1000 people. Of which there were more than twenty towns that fit that description.

Our agents have discovered this is going to be a greater case than they first thought and begin to do more interviews with parents of other missing children. After several hours, Spencer has put together a map of where the children went missing and there appears to be a great hole in it. An area of the map in which no children went missing, since many abductors are not likely to abduct children around where they live, our agents present that this is likely the area of where the children were taken. The agents with the small police force began to canvass the area. It is a rural wooded area of small density with very few houses and people. The area has more wild animals in it than it does humans, but they search for the needle in the needle stack as Reid has pointed out.

During the canvassing, they came across the opening to a cave which is believed to be sacred to the Ojibwa nation of which three reservations for them are in the area. To enter the cave, they needed to get a warrant because it is considered Indian Territory. Since they are only striving to look and not to remove anything non-living from the cave, a warrant is given, but members of the tribe must enter with them in order to prevent any disturbance of the relics that may be in there. Our child agents are a part of the search into the cave, each is with an adult agent or officer and a member of the tribe.

Upon entering the cave, it is discovered that there is a maze of tunnels that go down into the ground under the forest. It begins to become darker and more difficult to breathe in the caves as the air becomes thinner. It is Derek who begins to hear the moans and whines coming from behind the wall of the tunnel they were going down. The group he is with becomes quiet and Derek begins to scream and yell out. There is a response as the child goes to a hole in the wall and screams through it. The hole is very tiny, too small for the child on the other side to get through although Derek could fit through if he squeezed and pushed himself. The other agent called in that they have found him and what tunnel they are in. The others in the tunnels come running and the adults check out the hole. They know that the child could not have gotten in there that way, but maybe if they can get somebody in there, they might be able to find the other way in. They decide to use our child agents, the smallest ones being Spencer and Emily. There was some discussion about whether or not they are really capable of doing this. They can fit into the hole but can they handle what is beyond it to keep the child calm and be able to find the other way out.

Both of them accept the assignment and feel that they can make it through. The important thing is to find the child and the other way into the area. Spencer is lifted up and he crawls into the hole, Emily follows behind him. There is an area of six feet to crawl through and when Spencer gets to the end, he tumbles into the area and turns and helps Emily into. The area is a cavern that is not too large but has a hollowy feeling. They see the boy and head over to him; Emily begins to try to calm him down, while Spencer begins to search the cavern for another entrance. Behind them, Derek has pulled himself into the cavern and he barely fit in the tunnel. He had a rope tied to his foot with a bag of lanterns and food for the missing child.

"Spencer, don't go too far, I want to go with you."

"I am quite capable of doing this Derek. I may look like a four-year-old but I am smart enough to do things that a four-year-old can't do."

"I still want to walk and search with you." Spencer sighs but waits for Derek to join him.

"Emily, you stay with the boy and keep in touch with the others on the other side of the wall. I will keep in touch with you." He hands her a walkie-talkie and joins Spencer to search around the cavern.

The boys walk around keeping to the edge of the cavern and find a tunnel leading from the cavern; Derek calls it in and places a marker to designate it. They continue to walk around the cavern when they reach a large hole and decide to walk around it. Spencer gets clumsy and falls into the hole screaming all the way down. The hole goes down about thirty feet.

"Spencer!!!" He reaches out to him but misses him as he falls. He gets on the walkie-talkie and tells the 'adults' that Spencer had fallen into a hole and Derek can't see him anymore or hear him screaming anymore.

"Spencer!!! Are you okay? Talk to me, Spencer." Derek continues to call down to him but doesn't get any answer. Emily had been hearing Derek yelling out and with the other child running behind her comes running to where he is standing. The agents outside the cavern find the tunnel leading to the cavern and come running into the area and look around to find the children. They see them and come running, first grabbing the missing child and taking him out to be checked out and returned to his parents. The next step is to find out where the hole leads to and finding Spencer.

David and Sean came in while Jennifer and Emily went with the boy to his parents.

"What happened Derek?" asks David.

"We were doing a perimeter search of the cavern and walked by this hole. Spencer slipped and fell into the hole. He screamed going down but I haven't heard from him since he went down."

"Momma is going to go ballistic when she hears this."

Janet walks up and two other agents begin a rope ladder to head down into the hole.

Down in the hole, Spencer has fallen on what feels like sticks and moss and it breaks his fall so that he is not injured. The area is quiet as something on the walls seems to absorb all sound. He screams for Derek but doesn't get any answer. It is dark as no light comes from above, he doesn't like the dark as he hears creaks and squeaks around him from rats and things crawling around him. He feels one crawl over his leg and squeals as he kicks it away. He moves back and hits the edge of the hole and slips all around on the mossy feeling stuff on the sticks around him. He sits there waiting for someone to come and get him.

The rope ladder gets snagged and the hole seems to be longer than any ladder that they can find. It takes over an hour for them to set up a triangle seat to lower someone down to find Spencer. There was a question of who to send down, because should they send an adult agent or one of the team. They finally decide on a member of his team so that he feels safe with the person. Sean is strapped to the seat and they begin to lower him down into the hole with a lantern.

As he is lowered, Sean looks around him as the lantern lights up the area around him and what he sees begins to frighten him.

What should happen to Sean and Spencer and why does Sean begin to be frightened? Are Emily and Jennifer safe going with the child to his parents? What is really happening in this area and why?

Give me some ideas of what you think could happen and then read the next chapter to learn what really happens.


	10. Being Frightened

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Ten. 

As Sean goes down into the hole, the lantern lights up the sides and he sees pieces of bones, skulls, blood and other bodily fluids. He begins to get a little frightened by what he sees and imagines what else could be down there when he sees the puppy-sized rats running through holes in the walls. He begins to call out to Spencer and hopes he can hear him.

Spencer looks up and around, he thinks he can hear something other than the scuttling of the rats and bugs. He thinks he hears someone calling out his name.

"Spencer!?! Can you hear me Spencer? Answer me, its Sean. Spencer!"

He calls out, "Yes, I hear you. I am standing on a bunch of sticks and mossy slippery stuff. It's dark and there is lots of moving things around."

"Spencer I want you to close your eyes."

"What! Close my eyes, why?"

"Don't ask why, just do it. I will be down there with you in a few minutes. I want you to have your eyes closed." Spencer is wondering why Sean wants him to close his eyes, but he trusts him and so he obeys him and squeezes his eyes closed. A few minutes later, Sean arrives down and looks around to see Spencer sitting on bones, cartilage and body parts of what appears to be a lot of humans. He is covered in the blood and fluids of the bodies that are decomposing in the area. He goes over to the boy and lifts him up. Spencer squeals.

"Its okay, I am going to get you out of here Spencer. Keep your eyes closed."

"Why do want me to keep my eyes closed."

"You don't want to see what you are sitting on."

"Isn't it just sticks and moss and stuff like that?"

"No."

"What do you mean; no? What is it?" Spencer opened his eyes and looks around and the first thing he sees is the skull of what looks like a child of his own age. He squeals.

"Spencer, close your eyes." Sean grabs him and puts his face to his chest in order to cover his eyes. He picks him up and carries him over to the seat and sits back down with Spencer wrapped around his waist. He calls into the walkie-talkie to have them lift them up. He leaves the lantern down in the hole so that it is dark on the way up. He doesn't want to see the bloody walls and he doesn't want Spencer to see them either.

When they get to the top of the hole and are pulled off the rope, the others are shocked to see Spencer full of blood and body fluids. Derek looks at him and goes over to the side where he throws up. David goes and tries to get as much off as possible. Spencer finally looks down at himself and gets so upset at he begins to cry. Janet picks him up and takes him out of the cavern, Sean follows telling her what he saw down in the hole. When they get to the outside, Janet has all the boys get into the car and then has a driver take them back to the motel to get cleaned up. She goes back into the cave and tells the agents about what was found. The FBI begins to do a full search of the cavern and begins to call in scene investigators and medical examiners. It seems that the missing children for the past fifty years have been found. But how did they get there? Who put them there? Our agents have created a profile about the unsub, but their profile is a little off. All the FBI agents will be surprised by who the actual perpetrators of this crime are.

The boys arrive back at the hotel to the room and momma is shocked by how her boys look. Derek is full of dust and dirt and is still looking green. Spencer is full of blood, guts and gore and Sean has that on himself as well. Only David does not look filthy. She picks Spencer up and takes him straight to the bathroom. Sean goes over to a corner and squats down to sit looking shell shocked as if he could not get the sight of those bones and blood and gore out of his mind. Derek follows momma to the bathroom and she puts both of her boys in the tub at the same time for a bath. David just sits in the chair by the table. He is uncertain at this moment of how to help Sean or momma so he is going to stay out of the way. He knows what Sean is going through as this is his first time seeing that kind of stuff.

Aaron had been in a corner playing with the some trucks and cars when the boys came in and just watched as momma gathered up Spencer and Derek followed. He watched Dave sit and begin to write up a report of what happened while it was still fresh in his mind. He saw Sean go to a corner and try to become as small as possible. Aaron goes over to his 'younger' brother and even though he is covered a bit in the blood and gore, Aaron gets into his brothers lap and starts to quietly talk to him. This is a time when the littlest once again becomes the big brother and listens to Sean's telling of the story and how he feels. Aaron asks pertinent questions and then talks to him about it. He reaches into him and supports him that it will get better and he allows Sean to hold him.

Momma washes her boys in the tub of the gore and dirt and then takes them out and dresses them in a night sleeper. She has fixed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Doritos chips and fresh fruit slices for dinner with milk to drink. She puts the boys on the floor near the bed to eat and makes sure that David is eating too. She then goes over to her big boy in the corner and takes Aaron out of his arms. She lifts him up and he walks with her to the bathroom, Aaron following behind them. She takes Sean and puts him in the tub to shower and get off all the blood and gore on his clothes and body. He stands there and lets the water flow off his body carrying the filth with it. He contributes to the water with tears flowing from his eyes as he continues to see the bones, skulls and bodies of the hole he was in.

Momma strips and cleans up Aaron in the bathroom sink while Sean washes the gore off. She dresses him and then puts him back in the main room with the other boys. Going back into the bathroom, Sean is getting out and puts a towel around waist, he looks at momma and she sits on the toilet and puts him on her lap. He puts his head in her shoulder and cries some more as he can't seem to forget what he saw. While she was cleaning him Aaron had told momma what Sean had told him. She just rocks the boy as he struggles to control what he is feeling. After a while, he does calm down enough to get off her lap and get dressed in his pajamas. He goes to eat some dinner with the other boys who are now playing quietly together in the room. David is still writing at the table when momma comes over and tells him to go take a bath and clean up. He looks up at her and obeys her to head to the bathroom.

It is now that she realizes that her girls are not here and asks Sean if he knows what has happened to them.

"They went with the child to reunite him with his parents and that was the last that we saw them."

"I will have to call and check out where they are. Are you feeling better sweetheart?"

"I don't know if I will ever feel good again."

"Give it time darling and remember you can talk to me or Aaron about anything."

"I know momma." He hugs her fiercely.

She gets on the phone to Janet to ask her what has happened to Emily and Jennifer.

"I thought they would have been brought back to the motel already. They aren't there?"

No, only the boys are here."

"I'll find out where they are just stay there and wait for me to bring them by."

The women hang up and momma gathers her boys together and she begins to read to them in order to help them get their minds off of what they had seen today.

In another small town, our girls are in a small room where they have brought by the sheriff after he dropped off the child to his parents. It seems that the sheriff is among those that have been taking children. There is a group in the area amongst all twenty or so small towns that have been sacrificing children every four to six months for more than fifty years. It is for a weird religious practice that they do that was introduced by a sect that worships ancient gods. There are ancient religions that demand child sacrifice. This is the reason why so many children have been declared missing for so many years. The FBI is now involved because of the family that had the missing child, not because of the police desiring them to come in. The sheriff certainly did not expect them to find the child and to be as successful in finding the dumping of the bodies. But they still haven't figured out who did the deed.

The room that the girls are in is nothing special, plain with a single twin size bed, no dresser or closet, small table but no chairs. The girls sit on the bed quietly talking with each other about why they were there and what is happening. They wonder about what is happening to the guys. They know that the missing child is safe but wonder now if they are.

While the boys are being bathed, the girls wonder what is going to happen to them. Several hours pass by when the door of the room opens and a cloaked figure comes into the room and grabs at Emily who tries to scuttle away but was too slow. The figure catches her, picks her up and takes her from the room. Jennifer goes to the door to try to leave as well but the door was locked behind the figure. The girls were now separate. Jennifer goes to the window but it has been nailed shut and when she looks down, she sees shards of glass and metal spread all over the ground for ten feet around. There does not seem to be a way out that way. She wished that her cell phone had service but she keeps looking at it and there is no service. She sits down on the bed again to think about what she can do and to worry about what is happening to Emily.

Emily is being taken underground and the figure goes through many tunnels to reach a large cavern not dissimilar to the cavern with the hole, except there is no hole in the middle, there is a large altar style rock that is red in color from all the blood that has been spilled on it. Emily is placed into a small chamber off the cavern and placed into a playpen like area in which she cannot get out. She keeps asking what was happening and where they were, but no answers were given. The figure leaves her alone in the dark and she hears scuttling of bugs and rats around her and sinks to sit on the ground and tries to make herself as small as possible as fear begins to invade her. What if nobody ever found her? How can they find her when they don't know how has her?

Our girls in their musings have forgotten that momma thinks of all situations. When Janet calls and tells that they can't seem to find the girls or the person who took them to go to the missing child's parents' house. They haven't been seen since they left the house and no one seems to be talking. Momma gets a little upset by this and it is Aaron who reminds her of something.

"Becca, the machine that made us this way is broken, but does that mean the tracing elements in the devices no longer work." She looks at him and then wonders the same thing.

"We haven't checked that element and it is on a different section of machines. It is attached to the locater computer. Let's find out if it still works." She goes to the laptop and punches up the wireless connection to the net and opens into the institute to open into the right program of the main computer. She punches up the codes for the children to find if the locators are still able to be read by the satellite. She smile when she sees eight blips in the Minnesota area, it seems the tracers are still working. She calls Penelope at the main police station and has her do her magic by tracking the tracers to the geographic area. Penelope then calls Janet about it and tells her how they are trying to find the girls. It appears that the boys are all together and Penelope is at the station but Jennifer is at a house in a town a little further away, but Emily is not with her. She is located in a spot that has nothing there except forest. Janet gets some agents together and goes locate Jennifer.

When they go to the house that Jennifer is in, they knock but there is no answer. An agent knocks down the door and they go through the house, no one is there except Jennifer in the locked room. She hugs Janet and the woman takes her out to get into the car to take to the hotel. She tells her what had happened and that they took Emily away.

"We know that Emily is not with anymore. We have her location but we are not sure how to reach her. A group went there but nothing is around and they can't seem to find her."

"How did you find me?"

"The tracer in your device is still working,"

"Well, that is good news."

"Yeah, let us get you back to your momma."

"We need to find Emily."

"We will."

At the hotel, momma hugs Jennifer tightly and then has her sit and eat.

"Where is Emily?"

"They went to the place but didn't find anything."

David says, "We know that there are a lot of tunnels and caverns underground, it is possible that where she is being kept." Janet is on the phone with Penelope to see if she can get a map that might be able to show the tunnels of the area. Have they been mapped? Penelope finds old geographical maps that show the tunnels of the area and forwards them to the agents in the area. They are directed to an opening to the nearest tunnel which is under the area that Emily is shown to be in. They head to the area.

In the meantime, the group of people who has Emily are now gathering to sacrifice her to their gods. They are doing this without knowing that the FBI is on its way to stop them and rescue the girl. A figure has come in and taken the girl out of the room where she was being kept and stripped her of clothing. A robe was placed on her and she was brought into a circle of robed people surrounding the altar. She has not been drugged so she is quite aware of what is happening and to where she is being led to. She tries to bite the hands of the person holding her and struggles to get away but the person has a vice grip on her and knocks her in the head which makes her woozy. They bring her to the altar and place her on the table, she is restrained with leather thongs attached to iron rings around the stone. She tries to wiggle and move but is completely restrained so that she cannot move at all. They put a gag on her so that she cannot scream. She sees above her a man in a mask of a fierce growling creature. He is intoning a 'prayer' to his gods to accept the sacrifice they are giving him and that they will continue to prosper and achieve what their gods have deemed to give them. The people around the altar are intoning with the priest at the altar. What the people don't see is the group of people coming up behind them and then Agent Jacob Anderson yells.

"FBI, put your hands up and nobody move." There instead is a flurry of running but nobody gets out. Agent Anderson runs to the altar and restrains the priest as he attempts to complete the sacrifice and plunges the knife down.

Ker plunk, the knife hits the stone altar less than an inch away from the Emily's skull. The girl is unharmed physically but how will she view this incident in her life mentally. An agent unties her and removes the gag and she collapses into their arms crying. The agent tries to soothe the girl but finds it almost impossible. He just takes her out and into the light where it is cold for her because she has nothing on under the robe. They try to bundle her up as much as possible while they drive her to the hotel where momma is waiting for her little girl.


	11. Six Weeks Later

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Eleven. Six Weeks Later

It has been six weeks since Minnesota and there are still little bodies that wake up in momma's bed because of bad dreams and thinking she can keep them at bay. It seems that age does matter when seeing the death masks of those killed by predators. Our agents are still working but they focus on reading the case files and doing write ups with profiles. There has been no more field work for our children not since momma confronted the director two weeks after Minnesota and let him know what was happening to his agents as a consequence of what happened there.

Flashback

Momma comes in to the offices of the director of the FBI and tells Maggie that she was there for their appointment. She has all of children with her except Penelope who was working that day. They come in to the office with her and take a seat on the floor while she sat in the chair across from him.

"Hello Bob. I hope things are well for you."

"Hello Rebecca. I see you brought your bodyguards. Hello kids." There was no answer except some nods of acknowledgement. "Rebecca, I know that you have not been sending my child agents to work since the return from Minnesota which is why I wanted to meet with you. Can you tell why you haven't been sending them?"

"Director, I wake up in the morning with a bed full of children. I don't go to bed that way. The children are always put to bed in their own beds but don't stay there. The only one that can't get into my bed is Aaron and he screams when he wants out of his crib. The children are having nightmares and crawl into bed with me thinking that I can keep the monsters away. Does that sound like adult agents able to work?"

"No, that doesn't but that is the consequence sometimes of difficult cases."

"Difficult cases?!? These are children not rational adults who compartmentalize their feelings and let them go without feeling them. They cannot just turn off their emotions or their feelings. They do not have that impassionate style that adults have in order to see death in that way. If I had known what you were sending them into, I would have told you to forget about sending these children to that place."

"I didn't know what they were going to find. It was just a missing child case. We certainly did not expect that there was a serial cult having killed dozens of children over a fifty year time period. We certainly did not expect Spencer to fall into a hole with their bodies." Spencer whimpers when the director says that and the man looks at the boy with his fear filled eyes. "I understand that it is hard on the children to overcome the sights and smells that they experienced."

"Hard on them?!? You really don't see the damage that case has done."

"I do see it but these children are also some of the best profilers we have and I would like to continue to use those skills that they have but maybe field work is out of their realm at this time."

"At this time?"

"We'll see about future possibilities." She looks at him with an incredulous look on her face. "It will depend on the case, no death or murder type."

"We'll see. In the meantime, I will allow them to work under a few different rules."

"Different from before?"

"Just a few less days a week, Spencer will work one or two days a week on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays, Emily will work two days a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and/or Fridays, Derek will work three days a week any days I decide to send him on and varying each week. David and Jennifer will work four days a week and I decide the days that they work. Sean does not work at all for the agency in the field or the office."

"And Aaron?"

"Aaron will help you when you need him in a meeting but not in any other capacity."

"And if I don't agree to these terms?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you have some gall, but I agree to your terms. No field work and limited days with Spencer and Emily also still taking their afternoon naps."

"It would be a good idea."

They are interrupted by Spencer coming up and standing next to momma. She turns to him and asks, "What is it sweetie?"

"Mommy, I got to go potty."

"Can you wait a few minutes?"

He whimpers, "No."

Sean says, "I'll take him momma. Come on Spencer."

Mommas says, "Why don't you take all the boys at the same time and Jennifer can take Emily to the girls room now as well. Will that be okay with you children?" They all get up and head out the door to go to the bathroom, even though they might not need to go right now they will try to go and get it over with. Sean gives Aaron to momma since he doesn't want to change a diaper and Aaron doesn't use the toilet.

While they were away, the director and momma talked more about what they would be doing and the limitations that will be put into place. Aaron actually puts his opinion in once in a while and is a part of the conversation. He is still in many ways their 'boss' and they do listen to him when it is necessary. He still gives good remarks in what they do and the cases they were working on and sometimes the littlest becomes the oldest and wisest.

When the others come back momma and the director have finished their conversation and our family leaves the building and goes to lunch at McDonalds where a toddler kids meal, three regular kids meals and three big kids meals were gotten and momma asked them to put a different toy in each box. The restaurant was able to comply. After lunch they went to the Air and Space museum for the rest of the day.

End Flashback

Since the conversation with the director, momma and her children have been following the work schedule set up and there has been no field or travel for our young agents although David went on a trip with other agents to Cleveland for a few days. There was no death or blood for him, it was a situation of finding a pedophile and he was used as an expert in profiling the man. He was never sent anywhere alone.

It is at night that our young ones remember what has happened, Spencer has been wetting his pull-ups every night and Emily started wearing them when she began to wet the bed as well. Dreams of a man standing over with a knife in his hand continue to haunt her. Spencer dreams of being in a dark place and then all of sudden things are falling all around him and he doesn't know what they are and can't see them. Sean dreams of bloody rags and faces, although he hasn't wet the bed, he does wake up with his sheets drenched in sweat. All three sneak in to bed with momma after waking from their dreams. Spencer and Emily take off their wet pull-ups and put on a clean one, although sometimes Spencer puts them on backwards. Sean changes out of sweat soaked pajamas and puts on a clean and dry pair before they get into bed with momma.

During the days when the children are working momma goes to the institute with the children with her or they stay at home and play in the playroom although sometimes momma lets them go to the park or the zoo. When momma has all the children with her, she plans for days out. Like the museum, the zoo, the aquarium or some other child-oriented place to play and learn. She wants them to just be children on those days.

Aaron has helped the director a few times by sitting in on some of meetings but otherwise he has just been the little one in momma's arms when they go anywhere. He is always available to listen to any of the others when they want to talk. Sometimes they just want to cuddle him like a teddy bear and he just lets them because sometimes that just helps when you are feeling bad.

It has been six weeks and the family went to bed that night as usual with the door to the basement closed and the all the doors to the outside locked. When momma is awakened by the sound of the fire alarm from the basement going off, she rushes down stairs to check it out and the door is hot so she doesn't open it. She rushes back upstairs to the top floor and the children have also woken up.

Momma tells them to grab whatever is most precious to them, i. e. pictures, and sentimental items and go downstairs to put their snowsuits on and go across the street. She asks Penelope to keep charge of Emily and Jennifer and asks Sean to keep charge of Spencer and Derek with David helping him. She goes to her room and gets the diaper bag and puts her most precious pictures and other stuff in it and puts a pair of pants on under her nightgown and a dress on over it. In the meantime, smoke is beginning to fill the air and she is then on the cell phone and calling 911 so that the police and fire engines arrive. She grabs Aaron out of his crib and wraps him in a blanket and rushes back upstairs to check all the rooms that all the children were gone. She then checks the rooms on the second floor and grabs more blankets before heading back into the smoke filled first floor. She looks back from the hall and sees flames coming from the basement and heading into the back of the house and up to the ceiling creating a lot of black smoke. She coughs her way through and grabs her cape and Aaron's snowsuit and rushes outside where the first fire engine begins to show up. She goes across the street to where the others are standing. She counts and makes sure they are all there which thankfully they are. She turns and sees the house begin to burn on the second floor and the fire hoses starting to be used on the house as well as the trees surrounding the house and the house that is attached on one side. The house is a row house at the corner but does share a wall with the house next to it. Momma looks at it and just imagines all of her thousands of books being destroyed. Many of which are irreplaceable.

It is at this time that Aaron moves in her arms, he feels like he is being smothered by the blankets on him. Momma hands him to Penelope and takes off one of the blankets which she folds in half and places on the ground for the children to sit on. After Jennifer, David, and Derek sit down, Spencer and Emily get on their older ones laps and momma wraps another blanket around them. There is one more that she gives to Sean to wrap around him and Penelope. She puts Aaron's snowsuit on him and holds him in her arms under her cape which Penelope wraps around her.

"Momma?"

"What is sweetie?"

"What happens now?"

"What!?!"

"Where do we go?"

"I don't know. The institute I guess. There are beds you can sleep on and later in the morning we can figure out…"

"Momma, why don't you call the director?"

"What?"

"He is our supposed grandfather. We have stayed at the house before."

"You're right. That might work." Momma is in a bit of a daze seeing her home and everything she owned going up in flames. As she continues to stand there and look at the fire, Penelope takes the cell phone from her hand and calls the director about what is happening.

Fifteen minutes later, the director is driving up in the large van that is used when they need the family. He is wearing a pair of casual pants and a sweater of over his pajamas. He runs over to Rebecca and the children. Penelope has them stand up when she sees him and begins to bundle them into the van.

"Rebecca?" She looks at him with a shell-shocked face and he gently guides her to the van to get in with the children. He then walks over to the fire chief and the head police officer there and lets them know who he is and who she is and where he is taking her and the children. He leaves them with his information for when they want to get a hold of the family.

When they get back to his house, he puts them in rooms they had before, except with the addition of Sean there does not seem to be enough beds, so they put Spencer in the crib that Aaron was in before and momma took Aaron into her room where they set up a cradle that had been used by the directors own children many years ago. After all the children had been put into bed, momma and the director sat at in the office on his leather sofa to discuss the situation.

"Do you know what happened Rebecca?"

"I have no idea, Bob. We had a normal night and went to bed after leaving the basement playroom. I closed the door behind as usual because it helps to keep it warmer in the main section of the house if some doors are closed. I woke up hearing the fire alarm in the basement go off. I went downstairs to check it out and the door was hot so I did not bother to open it. I went upstairs and told Penelope to get the girls and get out and then told David to go with Sean and get the little boys and get out. I then went and got some of the more precious things that I didn't want to lose and then grabbed Aaron and wrapped him in a blanket and grabbed several more blankets to head out. It was starting to get very smoky and when I got down to the first floor I saw the first flames leaving the basement and begin to climb the walls and head into the rest of the house. I grabbed Aaron's snowsuit and my cape and went out the door hoping the other children were already out. I had called 911 when I was getting Aaron. I don't know what could have caused the fire. When the engines arrived they began to fight the fire but also worked to prevent the trees and the attached house next door from getting too damaged... David suggested I call you. I couldn't seem to think, just watch while everything I owned was destroyed. That's why Penelope called you."

"I am glad you called me. We can figure out the future in the morning. Why you don't go to bed now?"

"Is that the director or my 'father' talking?"

"At this moment I will be your father and tell you to go to bed. You will have eight children in the morning worried and frightened about the future and that is only a few hours away. Get some rest."

She agrees with him and the two head to their respective bedrooms. Of course momma goes to her room after she checks on her children. The girls are in a room with three beds, one bunk bed and one twin size. She checks on Penelope in the twin and tucked Jennifer more in the blanket on the top bunk. She bends down to more closely tuck in Emily in the bottom bunk and kissed her forehead.

She goes to the boys' room next which also has one bunk bed and one twin size bed with the crib in the corner. Sean is in the twin size bed and has strewn his bedclothes all over the place; she tucks them around him and then goes to David in the top bunk. He looks at her with wide eyes when she tucks him in.

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Is everything going to be alright? What is going to happen to us now?"

"Everything will work out. You will be with me wherever I go."

When he hears this, he sighs and closes his eyes as he snuggles further into the blankets and finally goes asleep. Momma bends down to the bottom bunk and checks on Derek to tuck him in further and make sure he is sleeping. She then heads to the crib where her big little boy is sleeping peacefully. He objected to sleeping the crib at first but allowed momma and the director to put him in it when he was told that it would only be temporary and they would get him a bed as soon as possible. He was sleeping on his stomach looking like an angelic cherub. Momma kisses his forehead and heads to her room where Aaron is sleeping in the cradle. He is another who looks angelic while sleeping, except when she looked down at him he opened his eyes and then reached out his arms to be picked up. Momma picked him up and then sat in the rocking chair with him for the rest of the night. She never went back to bed that night.


	12. Shopping After the Fire

+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twelve. After the Fire

For three days, momma and the kids wandered around the house in a daze. The director was taking care of things with the Fire Marshall and the police who came by to talk about the fire and according to the Marshall, the wiring was a little too old for the high tech gadgets in the basement. The wires got too hot and created sparks which created a fire in to the walls. Momma did not want to go and see the building and see if anything was salvageable; in her mind there would be nothing and she didn't want to see the destruction at this time.

The director had kept one outfit of clothes at the house for the kids when they had moved into the house, so there was clothing for them since they came in their winter sleepers. She called the local grocery store to have food and things like diapers, baby wipes, pull-ups and other things delivered later that day.

For the days are quiet and momma sits usually with one of the children on her lap, while the others find things to do and play with. Momma tries to spend personal time with each of the children and on the fourth morning, Jennifer comes and talks with momma who currently is just sitting in the rocking chair reading a book to Emily who was sitting on her lap.

"Momma?"

"Yes, sweetie."

"I am sorry to bother you while you are spending personal time with Emily but we need to do something."

"What do you mean?"

"We can't keep wearing the same clothes every day and we need to do something about where we are going to live. I mean grandpa can't keep us here forever."

"What would you suggest darling?"

"I don't know maybe we could go shopping for some clothes, games and toys and stuff."

"Clothes, games and toys and stuff, that's all we should shop for?"

"That's all I can think of right now."

"Do you want to go today?"

"Can we?"

"Gather the troops and get your coats on." The girl goes running out of the room and starts to find the others in the house. Emily climbs down from momma's lap and goes to the hall to put her coat on. Fifteen minutes later, momma enters the hall and sees eight people waiting for her; Penelope had been home that day since she also only has one outfit to wear. The group gets into the van that grandpa has there for them to use and momma heads to the Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, Virginia, after stopping in a store to buy a four wheel shopping cart. The mall has many small stores but also some main department stores such as JC Penney, Sears and Macys. Momma wanted to go to a place that she knew would have clothes and things for all her children.

When they arrive an hour later at the mall, mamma tells her older children that if they wanted to they could go shopping in pairs to find their own clothes and things. However, to think about what they were buying, the thing to remember is 'would momma like and would she allow me to wear it?' Momma is conservative and dresses her children in that way. Penelope and Jennifer go together to search for clothes for the two of them. Sean and David go together as well, knowing that momma will probably have to approve of what they buy before they leave the mall. She gave them each a list of what to look for and what they are allowed to purchase (dress, skirt, pants, jeans, sweaters, t-shirts, tops, blouses, underwear, socks, shoes and other accessories). The others go with her to the information kiosk and then they go to the stroller rental area to pick up a stroller for Aaron. Who once again complains about it but accepts that momma wants to have her hands available and not be carrying him all day. Yes, he can walk but momma doesn't want him to do so in a place with a lot of other people around. It will be problematic enough keeping the young ones close.

Derek pushes the shopping cart and they begin to go to different stores and look at clothes and other things. In the Gap store momma buys another child carrier so that she can carry Aaron on her body and then puts a tiring Spencer into the stroller. At noon, the boys and girls meet momma in the food court and they all select different foods. Momma checks out the purchases that her children have made and approves of them. It seems they are still thinking with their adult personas and choosing items for work as well as play. After eating lunch, Momma has Sean and Penelope take the first set of bags to the van and come back in where the family splits again and continue to shop for more clothes and other things that will help them while they recover from the fire.

Aaron falls asleep in his carrier and Spencer falls asleep in the stroller. While these two take naps, momma takes Emily and the girls shopping while Derek gets to go with David and Sean to play games and shop for some boys toys. Momma and the girls looks for dresses and dolls and other things that girls like.

When Aaron wakes up, he squirms in momma's arms and asks, "Can I get down and walk a while Becca? I will not run away and go far from you. Please." He looks at her with a sweet angelic face but she is not fooled. She does however allow him to do so because it would be good for him to run around for awhile. Spencer also wakes and gets out of the stroller to walk around and look at things while Emily gets in and rests her tired legs. Momma and the little boys and her girls pass by the toy store with a bunch of walking little animals and flipping dogs and cars in front to entice. Aaron goes running over and starts to play with the toys, Spencer following with momma and the girls watching and traipsing behind. The girls go the store and start to find toys to buy and take home.

They got legos, barbies, cars, trucks, dolls, art works, dress-up and all sorts of things. The boys actually join them there and it almost seems that they are going to buy the store out. Momma does make some limits however.

It is getting to be late afternoon when the family leaves the mall to head home with their purchases. After loading the family into the van, Penelope drives them out of the mall with momma in the front passenger seat and the kids buckled into their seats.

Dave asks, "What are we having for dinner?"

"Can you wait until we get home?"

"Do I have to?" The people in the van explode into laughs at that remark.

Momma smiles and says, "If I see a place that I want to eat at, we'll stop. I don't want any fast food tonight. I would like a good steak."

Soon they do stop at an Applebee's restaurant where momma gets her steak and each of the children get chicken fingers, pasta, sliders or a steak for themselves. Momma did not order anything for Aaron, instead she fed him some of the onion rings appetizers and very finely cut up pieces of her steak for him as well as some of her sides. He got plenty to eat from her and the others plates without spending $10.00 on a separate meal for him. Spencer had chicken sliders with some of momma's onion rings. Emily shared the sliders with Spencer and Derek got chicken fingers with French fries. David split a steak with Sean while Jennifer got an oriental salad. Penelope bought a pasta dish with shrimp. After eating, they got back in the van and headed back to grandpa's house. On the way there, a several closed their eyes and went to sleep in the van.

Thank you for your opinions of who should remain a child. Keep reading over the next chapters and you may change your minds. Most of you want Spencer to stay a child. We will see, The decision will be made many chapters from now. I hope you will like what happens next to our family and how will they remain a family.

I love your reviews and enjoy writing about a great group of people.


	13. Easter

+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Thirteen. Easter

On this fine morning, momma and the children are dressing in new clothes that match each other and show that they are a family. The boys are in pastel blue shirts over medium blue slacks with a blue plaid vest. The girls are in pastel blue dresses with medium blue ribbons sewn on the hem, waist, cuff and neckline. The director has been able to acquire tickets to the white house and the annual Easter egg roll and hunt and lawn party. They will be there for the 10 am to 12 pm time slot and are looking forward to it. When our children were originally this age they lived in different areas of the country and never had the opportunity to do something like this so they are excited about the chance to do the action and be at the White house during this time.

The day before had been Easter day and the family had worn other new clothes in spring colors. They went to the Catholic Church in the morning and the director had set up an egg hunt at the house and grounds. They had to search for their Easter baskets and then for eggs that were special. There were special eggs that needed to be found. They were special in that they might represent some money or a game or other things that our children might enjoy. Penelope did not get involved in this because she is older but she was helpful for Aaron since he had difficulty holding his basket. She held the basket while he did his searching. They had a great time doing it.

When the younger ones went in for naps, the older children played games and a large dinner was served when the younger children were awake. After dinner, they all spent time together watching an animated version of the life of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. After which they went to bed to get ready for the day at the White House.

They arrive at the White House just before their allotted time and were dropped off to stand in line with others who have tickets for the same time period. Momma had put her wallet and things in Aaron's diaper bag since that was the only thing allowed in.

The time comes and they enter the grounds of the building. There is a music stage and a cooking stage as well as the place where the egg roll will take place. It appears that there are many activities for the young people to participate in and our agent children spread out to the places that interest them the most. Momma takes Aaron out of the child carrier that she brought him in as she didn't want to bring the stroller. If you have pushed a stroller over a grassy hill then you know that it is not an easy thing to do.

Aaron goes running to where they are doing the egg roll, he is given a wooden spoon to use and Spencer, Emily and Derek also decide to roll eggs while David goes to the Basketball court and watches as well as participates in the throwing of the ball. Sean and Jennifer both go to the cooking stage and learn about the different culinary dishes they are teaching the young people that day. Momma stands to the side and watches her little ones roll the eggs down the sloping hill. Some of the children were doing a little more than just rolling but slightly tossing the egg with the spoon. All in good fun and just watching them enjoy themselves was a blessing to momma. After the egg rolling, the children went and listened to stories and Derek and Emily watched people performing yoga exercises.

The President and First lady were there and played with the children and the first lady's mother read stories to the children. The family had pictures taken with the cardboard stand-ups of rabbits, chicks and eggs and with the costumed adults. The morning was enjoyed by our family.

When the van came back to pick them up, if was a group of excited and hungry children who climbed in. They went to a downtown restaurant that had a full salad and entrée buffet. They chose what they wanted and once again Momma did not buy a separate meal for Aaron but gave him food from her plate. He would take a bottle after eating some solid food and fall asleep in the van on the way home. Once they got home, Spencer and Emily went down for naps and the others went to relax and rest in their own ways.

Momma has been looking at apartments in the past few weeks and is now trying to narrow it down to what would be best for her and her children. She has to have a three-bedroom but would like a four-bedroom if she can get it. But there aren't too many really large apartments as most are one to three bedrooms.

She has asked Penelope if she wants to stay with the family and share a room with the younger girls or get a small apartment of her own. She would still be a part of the group but living outside of the family home. She actually is thinking of doing just that and has been looking for a small apartment that she can afford. Because of this momma is not buying her a bed in the new apartment but will have a sleeper sofa in the living room for her and a wardrobe in momma's room for clothes and stuff for her.

Momma has already purchased a triple bunk bed from a company that makes them which will go in the boys' room and will buy two regular bunk beds, one for the girls and the other for the other boys. She is going to have Aaron be in the boys' room in the bottom bunk of the triple which he could be able to crawl into himself because it is set on the floor. Spencer will be in the bottom bunk of the other bunk bed with Derek in the bunk above Aaron and Sean and David in the top bunks as they wish. The Emily will be in the bottom bunk of the other set of bunk beds with Jennifer above her. Momma is buying a full size bed for herself. She wants it to be fairly large in case one or more of the children want to crawl in bed with her. Only Aaron would have difficulty but he would let her know if he wants to get in bed with her.

She has been looking at different furniture for the living room and the dining room of where she chooses to live and make sure that her children have their games and toys as well as enough places to play and run around. She has also bought two rocking chairs; one for the living room and one for her bedroom.

The problem that she knows may soon arise is if they are able to return them to their adult forms. They have finally broken through the plastic and discovered the chip that has the adult information on it. They are now analyzing it to find the code for each of the agents. They would not be able to distinguish which code belongs to which adult but they can separate the different codes. Momma has not talked with her children about it yet because they are still looking through the code. They have only found seven codes, it is possible that the eighth adult code is gone and who it may be is unknown. If that is the case then one of her children will remain a child permanently.

Although, there is a thought that once they remove the wrist device from the person they may begin to age again at a regular pace. If they remove them before changing back to adults then they would age as a child and grow up all over again. If they leave the device even after becoming an adult, they would remain at the same age that they were when the device was put on and never age. Would anyone really choose to never age? This is the question to ponder for our agents when momma talks to them about when the associates at the institute begin to send codes to the devices.

They don't feel they are ready yet. We want no problems to occur when doing so. Don't want to give Jennifer David's mustache or one of the guys a pair of breasts. Momma keeps in touch with them and has a meeting weekly about the status and how soon they would be able to change her children back to their normal forms so they can renew their regular lives.

Of course, this saddens her but she has always known that this would happen. She cares for those that she is taking care of but she has not gotten too close so that cannot say good bye to them. She has always known that she would have to let them go. It has been one year now since they were changed into children and she looks at them as that, even though she had changed them back into adults once in a while and knew them as adults as well she loves them as children. She has never told them that she loves them and they have never told her that they love her but this is a family that is close. She hopes that when they actually leave her they will remember that.

The family enjoyed their Easter day and will soon learn that they may become adults sometime in the next few months.


	14. I Killed My Brother

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Fourteen. I Killed My Brother!

It is the first of May and momma and the girls are going to the beauty salon to have their hair styled and manicures and pedicures done. The boys are staying home alone and momma isn't sure it is the best thing to do. She just has a bad feeling but decides to trust Sean to watch the other boys.

"Are you sure that you can handle the other boys, Sean?"

"Yeah, we will be fine momma. We'll just play together in the house here. What's the big deal? We are adults in our minds if not in body. I don't think anybody is going to be a problem." She looks at him with a worried look but decides to give him the chance to show he can be responsible.

"The girls and I are leaving now, Aaron and Spencer are napping. Spencer is usually awake before Aaron so keep an ear out for the boys when they wake up. Do not make too much noise and wake them up prematurely. You don't want cranky little ones on your hands." She sighs and says, "Are you sure that you don't want me to call someone older to stay with you?"

"Go momma, we will be fine." She sighs again and leaves the house with the girls.

Sean sighs with relief and says, "Finally, I know she worries about us but we are mentally not children and can make decisions for ourselves."

David says, "She worries because she cares."

"She worries because she sees us as children not adults."

"I really won't say that. Before the machine broke, she made us adults at times and was very good about keeping our dignity intact. She considered our adult pride but also does see our smaller bodies and less ability to reach and do things. Since the permanence of our situation it has become that she does see us more as children but especially since that case in Minnesota. I do remember you spending many nights in her bed after a nightmare." Sean reddens and hangs his head a little. ""Hey, you don't have to be ashamed by it, just give momma a little leeway to worry about you and the rest of us."

"Let's go play a game."

"Derek is playing in the playroom with cars and trucks, how about a computer game."

""Tony Hawk, Skater?"

"Sounds good." The boys go running to the office with the computer games.

An hour later, Spencer wakes from his nap and goes to find what everyone else is doing. He finds all of them in the office playing games on the computer and drinking what they shouldn't be drinking. It seems 'grandpa' keeps his liquor in the office in an unlocked cabinet and our boys have decided to pretend that they were adults again and have a drink. Sean had a rum and coke while David had a scotch on the rocks and Derek had gin and tonic. Spencer came in and saw the other boys laughing and having fun.

"Hey guys, what's so funny?"

They look at him and burst out laughing at him.

David says, "Hey, Spencer how about a nip for the little genius? What's your poison?"

"What do you mean? Are you drunk?"

"No I am not drunk but I have had a little to drink. What do you want?"

"We shouldn't have anything like that. We have bodies of children and our sizes make it difficult to metabolize alcohol."

Derek says, "The little genius is coming up with logic and will probably start spouting facts and figures and statistics now. What is it boy? Too afraid to drink like an adult maybe we should just get you some milk like a baby."

"I am not a baby. But I don't think we should be drinking alcohol. If we got caught we could be punished badly."

"Who is going to catch us? Nobody is home except us." Says Sean. "I am in charge and I say you should have a shot of whiskey. Get the boy a shot glass Dave."

"Right away Sean." Dave gets a shot glass and fills it with some whiskey. He takes the glass over to Spencer and puts it in his hand. Spencer just looks at the glass but doesn't drink it.

"Go ahead Spencer. Be a man and have a drink or aren't you a man?"

Spencer looks at the glass and takes a swig. All of the boys raise their glasses in salute and take a swig of the alcohol inside of them.

An hour later, Sean begins to hear something. It sounds like someone is screaming but who could that be? He remembers now. Aaron is still in his crib and it sounds like he has wakened from his nap. Sean goes upstairs to the boy's room where Aaron is standing up in the crib screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Aaron, stop making all that noise. I am here now." Aaron looks at him with red-rimmed suspicious eyes.

"Where is momma?"

"Momma and the girls went out. I am in charge."

"I want out of here now Sean."

"I know." Sean picks Aaron and proceeds to change his wet diaper. The boys go down to the office where the other boys still are playing games.

"Hey everybody, look at who is up."

There is a bevy of hi's to Aaron who looks around at the boys who look pretty tipsy.

Derek says, "How about a drink for the old boss man."

"Yeah, I know he likes his bourbon." Sean prepares a bottle of milk for Aaron and puts an ounce of bourbon in the drink. He picks up the baby and puts him in his lap, Aaron fusses as he doesn't really want the drink but Sean puts the nipple of the bottle in his mouth and Aaron instinctively begins to suckle.

An hour later, momma and the girls come home and spread out in the house. Momma goes to try to find where the boys are. She checks the bedroom and then the play room and the kitchen and dining area. She checks out the backyard. She is confused because she can't seem to find any of the boys. Sean had said that they would stay in the house but where. She can't even hear where they might be. She finally enters the office and sees four of the boys lying around in the different chairs in all sorts of dishevelment. She sees the glasses on the side table next to a chair and goes to smell it and discovers that it is alcohol. She gets extremely worried now as she looks at her boys. She goes over to Spencer and his head lolls back. He is unconscious and the skin was clammy and cool to the touch. She continues to check each boy but is worried because she can't find her baby. Where is Aaron?

She looks around and finally sees a tiny foot coming out from under the desk. She goes over to him and is aghast when she sees the baby. He is unconscious, clammy to the touch and his lips and skin was a light blue. She feels for a pulse which is weak and thready but at least it was there. His respiration was shallow. She decides he needs medical attention.

"Penelope, Get the van ready to go." She yells out the door. "Jennifer and Emily go to the door."

She goes around to the boys and tries to wake them up. Sean is groggy but does open his eyes and she helps him to stand and takes him to the front door and sets him on the hall bench. Jennifer sees and tries to keep him awake. She looks up at momma with worried and questioning eyes. Momma goes back and gets David and then Derek out to the hall. By this time Penelope had come back in with the van running.

Mommas says, "I need you to take the boys out to the van now and I will follow with Spencer and Aaron. Girls, help Penelope and then get into the van. After getting in the van call Dr. Hovde at the institute and have him meet us at the emergency room at Washington Medical Hospital."

Momma goes back to the office and picks up Spencer and then Aaron and carries both out to the hall and then to the van, she buckles them into their car seats and then settles the other boys as she checks them out more and Penelope is on the phone with Dr. Hovde. The girls get in and momma drives to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, momma gets out and goes in while Penelope and the girls work on getting the boys out.

"Please help me, my boys got into their grandfather's liquor cabinet and I think the baby has alcohol poisoning and the others need to be checked to make they are just drunk and not poisoned as well." Orderlies and nurses head out to the van with gurneys and begin to bring the boys in. Aaron is taken first to the back and placed on a respirator. Each of the boys was given an intravenous feed as their blood was taken and their BAC was taken. It was found to be excessively high in each of the boys and they went to work on getting it lowered by flushing it out through hydration.

They had to clean up Spencer when he wet his pants while lying on the gurney. To help keep the linens clean they placed a diaper on him in case it should happen again. Aaron was in the worst condition with alcohol poisoning. The medical personnel hooked him up to a heart monitor and an intravenous drip to help clear the alcohol from his blood. They put him in an incubator to keep him germ free and protected. The poisoning lowers his immune system and opens him up to infections and illnesses.

When Doctor Hovde arrived, he first checked out the reports of the labs already taken and talked with the doctors in charge. He schedules an MRI for Aaron, it seems there is little response to the treatment and he is concerned about the lack of reaction in his eyes and motions. He is concerned about his mental abilities.

He checks on each of the other boys and sees that there is no poisoning of alcohol just drunk children who know need to get the alcohol out of their blood system. Spencer seems to have a little problem but not to the extent of Aaron and not so that the Doctor is overly worried. But he should be watched for a few days in case of lack of coordination or other problems may occur. Derek is just drunk but should also be checked over in a few days at the institute.

The doctor comes out to talk to momma.

"Rebecca?"

"Yes, Dr. Hovde."

"The boys are quite drunk; Aaron is the worst with some alcohol poisoning. I have scheduled an MRI to check for brain damage."

"Is that a possibility?"

"With the BAC he has, yes it is a possibility." Momma groans at this and fights to keep her tears in check at the thought of her baby man not being there. "I also want to keep a close eye on Spencer, I don't think that he is in as dangerous a situation but he needs to be closely monitored for a week a so to determine if the alcohol hurt any part of his brain. Some symptoms would be lack of coordination, slurred speech, muscle droop or something of that. If he shows any of these things then we must do an MRI on him as well. Derek has a high BAC but is coherent in his responses to the questions and tests done. I don't think there will be a problem with him. He should recover fine with just a hangover in the morning. David and Sean also seem to be coherent and able to respond well. We are trying to reduce the hangovers for the boys by hydrating them well and I think they should all stay overnight but I don't see a problem with them going home tomorrow. Except for Aaron of course, he will be here for a few days."

"Thank you doctor, keep me informed. I am going to check on my boys."

"I'll let the nurses know."

The boys had been taken to a ward room while Aaron is in the nursery still in the incubator to keep him germ and infection free. Momma walks into the ward room and sees three beds and a crib of metal holding Spencer in the room. It is hospital policy to put all children under the age of five in a crib of metal bars. The boys are in beds with plastic rails surrounding them and each has an IV still attached to them feeding them saline solution to help flush out the alcohol toxins in their bloodstreams.

She goes over to David first and he is sleeping peacefully. She brushes his cheeks and then heads to the bed next to him which holds little Derek. Derek, being only seven, looks so small in the bed and appears to be pale and sleeping. But instead of looking peaceful, he looks like he is having a bad dream and begins to moan a little. Putting the rail down, momma picks up her little boy and holds him in her arms where he begins to relax as he feels safe. After a few minutes, she places him back down and he is now sleeping peacefully.

Sean is in the next bed and momma looks down on her young teenager. His eyes are open and it looks like his head is hurting. He asks, "Is everybody okay momma?" Tears begin to form in his eyes as realizes where they are and what he did to his little 'brothers'.

"They will be."

"I am so sorry momma. I guess I was not ready to be alone with the boys. It was me who gave everybody the alcohol. Is Aaron okay? I think I hurt him momma. Is he okay?" Momma looks at her young teen and strokes an errant lock of hair off his face. She wipes the tears forming in his eyes as she fights from showing the ones that want to form in her eyes.

"He is being checked and we can only hope that he will be okay."

"I did hurt him then." He begins to cry earnestly.

"I am not going to lie to you Sean. They are worried about his lack of response and we can only hope and pray that any hurt is temporary and can heal. I want you to stop crying, you need to keep hydrated so that you don't get a hangover and you need to sleep now." She brushes her hands along his cheeks and wipes his eyes as he closes them and tries to sleep. She stays with him until he does fall asleep.

She goes over to the crib to check on her big little boy. She puts the rail down and checks his diaper which is wet. Putting the rail up, she leaves to get supplies to change him and when she comes back, she discovers that he is awake.

"Hello sweetheart, how are you feeling?"

"Why am I in a crib?"

"It is the policy of the hospital to put children under five in this type of bed."

"Why am I in a diaper?"

"You wet yourself in the emergency room and they put you in a diaper to keep the linens clean in case you were unable to control yourself."

"Oh. Why am I in a hospital?"

"You got drunk with the other boys and I was worried that it was a problem, so I brought you here. Sweetie."

"Yes mommy."

"I need to change your wet diaper."

"Okay mommy. I would like to feel more comfortable." She proceeds to clean him and places a dry cloth diaper with waterproofing chucks between two layers of cloth.

"This is only temporary." She smiles down at him and he wanly smiles back and gives her a big hug. She strokes him along the back to help him fall back asleep. After checking that all the boys are asleep momma leaves the room and heads to the nursery to check on her baby.

He is in a glass box with two holes that hold rubber gloves in on either side. She goes over and puts her hands in a pair of the holes and stokes her baby's hair. He is just wearing a diaper and has wires and tubes attached to several areas of his arms and chest and head. He is still sleeping as she looks down and continues to stroke his cheeks and forehead. She does this for about half an hour when she realizes that she needs to go check on her girls and let them know what is happening with their brothers. She reluctantly takes her hands out of the holes and heads to the family room where the girls are sitting waiting for news. The girls get up when they see her coming in.

"Are the boys okay?"

"As good as drunk children can be. They will be staying overnight and come home tomorrow. They are sleeping right now, so I want you three to go home now and get some rest and you can see them tomorrow."

"Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, I am going to stay in the nursery. Aaron hasn't woken up yet and I want to be here when he does. You know how much he likes strangers taking care of him." Some chuckles and nods at this remark as the girls gather their things and head to the van where Penelope drives them home.

When they get home, the director is there and questions them about the mess in his office. When they tell him about how they found the boys and where they are now, he gets upset and angry about it. He goes into the office and begins to clean the area and takes all the alcohol from the room and puts it into the safe. But it is like locking the barn door after all the horses have been stolen, still it is an effort on his part. Like momma, he did not expect his child agents to do this type of action. He also assumed that they would know better. He and the girls eat some dinner and the girls spend a quiet evening together before going to bed at about 10:00 pm.

The following day, at about 1:00 pm, the director and the girls show up at the hospital. Momma had called and said not come until the afternoon. Penelope had brought a bag with clean clothes for the boys and momma. They go into the wardroom with the boys who are still eating their lunches.

The director says, "Alright boys, what makes you think that you had the right to go into my alcohol cabinet. I thought you were smart enough to know what you can have and cannot have. I am very disappointed in all of you."

Sean speaks, "The only person you should be disappointed in is me sir. It is my fault. I gave the alcohol to the others. Since we are still mentally adults, I just felt we could have alcohol."

"Mentally or not, you are physically and legally a child and you will be punished as one. But I am glad that you are willing to accept responsibility for your actions and decision. But the rest of you should not have drunk the alcohol even if it was given to you by Sean. You will be punished for that decision. Where is Aaron?"

"He is in the nursery sir. He is not doing as well as we are."

"What do you mean by that?"

Momma comes in to the room because the nurse Angela informed her that the director and the girls had arrived.

"Hello Bob. I see you have already scolded the boys and I expect there was a mention of punishment."

"Yes, the boys know that they will be punished for this action. What is this that I hear that Aaron is not doing as well?"

"That is true as he got alcohol poisoning and is in an incubator in the nursery. He is scheduled to have an MRI done later today. The boys are good and I want you to take them home. I cannot leave yet until I know that Aaron will be alright or something about him changes."

Penelope brings over the bag and says, "I brought you a clean set of clothes and I will help with the others, you just keep an eye on our boss man. Make sure he is okay."

"We can hope and pray right now. That's all we can do at this moment. Take care of the kids." Momma goes to each of her child agents and gives each a hug and kiss as well as an admonition to listen to Grandpa and Penelope.

"I want to stay." Says Sean.

"No, I want you at home and not here worrying about what is happening to Aaron. There is nothing that you can do here for him. I will keep you informed of what is happening to him. You need to be my big boy and help grandpa and Penelope watch the little ones. You are not to leave the house for any reason and I need you to do what you are told. Do you understand what I want from you?"

Sean hangs his head and says, "Yes, but I want to stay." He looks up with tears in his eyes that were pleading.

"No." With firm hands, the director steers Sean away from momma and the boys and girls walked out the door heading home. Momma goes back to the nursery where she puts her bag down next to the rocking chair that she has been sitting in watching her baby breathe in the respirator box.

Several hours later, she is holding him in her arms while he drinks from a bottle. He is still not responding as well as he should be but is at least able to suckle and swallow the liquid. The IV has been removed and he is breathing on his own. There does not appear to be any adult recognition in his eyes but the doctor is still checking his MRI which was completed less than thirty minutes ago.

He finishes his bottle and she rocks him to sleep. When the doctor comes in a short while later she puts him in the crib they have assigned to him. He is sleeping peacefully when she walks with the doctor to his office.

"Well Rebecca I wish that I had better news but there does appear to be some damage." She groans and fights the tears in her eyes. He brings around the computer monitor as he brings the results of the MRI up on the screen. He shows where in the area of the left side of the parietal lobe of the brain appears to have some slightly damaged neurons. This is the area that focuses on long-term memory of language such as ability to read and understand speech. At his young age right now, he can relearn what he may have lost. It won't be known how much is lost until later when the brain has healed. It is possible that it can heal but right now there is damage. What he remembers and his abilities are unknown at this time." Tears begin to fall down Rebecca's face as she listens to what the doctor is saying. It is possible that the man is longer in the body of the baby. He may be lost in the damage to the long-term memory neurons. The baby can relearn what he has lost but the memories of the man may be lost. It is possible that it isn't forever but at this point there no guarantee of him remembering who he is.

"Thank you doctor. We will discuss this more at the institute."

"Rebecca, I am sorry. We will do what we can to help find the man inside."

She smiles grimly and with tears in her eyes. She gets up and walks to the nursery to see her baby. She keeps hoping to see the man in her baby's eyes but that may not ever happen again. She decides that it is time to go home and let the family know what is happening to him. She kisses her baby and walks out the nursery to take a cab home.

At the house, she walks through the door where Sean is sitting on the hall bench sitting waiting for her.

"What are doing here?"

"I was waiting for you."

"But you didn't know when I would be home."

"I was going to sit here and wait until you did."

She smiles wanly at the boy and holds him in her arms. After a minute he moves away and asks, "How is Aaron?"

"He is not doing well."

"What do you mean?" tearily the boy asks.

"There appears to be damage to the brain in the long-term memory and some abilities he may have lost."

"Damage to the brain? What do you mean? Is my brother still there?"

"We don't know the full extent and the man that was your brother might not be there anymore."

"Are you saying that I killed my brother?"

"Not physically, but it is possible that mentally he is no longer there."

He begins to cry loudly and heavily when he says, "I killed my brother."

Momma grabs him in her arms and lets him cry.


	15. The Punishment

+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

This chapter involves spanking of children. You have been warned.

Chapter Fifteen. Punishments

Two days after they came home from the hospital, the director has a talk with each of his 'grandsons'. He has each of them in his office.

"Sean, I appreciate the fact that you accepted responsibility for opening the liquor cabinet and giving some to your brothers and drinking it yourself. But as you know it was the wrong thing to do. Even though you have the intelligence, memories and logic reason of the adults that you were. This is not the case now. You are not adults. The bodies that you currently have are what you are, thirteen, ten, seven and four. Whatever age you were before is not important. You are what you are now. Doctor Anderson is very adamant about reminding me of that because she sees you daily and knows the struggles that you are having. The past months that you have been living with me has actually shown me what she has been talking about." As the director talks, the boys listen and even begin to hang their heads or have tears in their eyes at his remarks. "Having said that the Doctor has given me the permission to discipline you for your actions. You stole liquor from my cabinets. Liquor that you were not allowed to drink but you wanted anyway. You need to remember that what you will not get what you want most of the time. You are not in control of your lives or your bodies, Doctor Anderson is in control and responsible. You know her as momma and that is how she treats you and wants you to feel secure and safe in this new life. But when she gives you her trust you need to live up to it. Several days ago you failed to do so. She trusted each of you to do the right thing and be the age that you are not what you were. I must punish you as the age that you are. Your momma does not believe that spanking is a good deterrent or a positive way of dealing with problems. I disagree, right now you each need to understand what you are and that being punished is the goal. If you ever do anything like this again, you will be punished again. Your momma tries to give you positive attention, maybe too much but you have to give her your trust and let her be able to trust you by being responsible. She tries to not treat you like the small children you are but I think she needs to stop seeing you as adult children and just as children. Today, you are mine and I will be punishing you as a child. I will spank you, not because you are truly bad children but because you have the reason of adults but chose not to use it. I don't want to hurt your heads but you have a nice soft spot on your behind. Sean you will stay. The rest of you will go and sit in the hall waiting for your turn."

The younger boys get up while Sean stays seated with his head low. As the door opens, the boys see momma standing there with a look of despair on her face because she does not want her boys to have to experience this. David sat on the bench near the door and Derek sat next to him. Spencer looked at momma with tears streaming down his face and ran to her. He grabbed her around the hips and hugged tightly while hiding his face in her waist. She ruffles his hair while looking at the director through the door.

"Spencer, sit down and leave momma alone." The boy moves his face from her and looks through the door at him. He runs over to the bench and sits while continuing to cry. The director closes the door.

In the office, Sean looks at the man with some trepidation even though he knows that the man won't hurt him. He is still afraid of being spanked. He doesn't remember ever being so. His own father died when he was very little and his mother was more likely to spank his brother and ignore him. He knows that Aaron got hit a lot but he escaped that type of punishment.

"Sean, you were the one in charge and made the decision to open the liquor cabinet."

"Yes, sir."

"It is for this reason that you will receive the greatest number of smacks on your bottom. Because this is a new experience for all of you I am not making you remove your pants. You will not be spanked on your bare bottom; your pants will give you some protection. Not much but a little. I will be giving an amount of smacks equal to your adult chronological age plus the age that you are now and because of your poor decision to give alcohol to the baby, you will receive smacks for him as well, one smack for each year of his real chronological age. That equals to more than eighty smacks, I will try to be gentle but I want you to truly understand what you did was wrong. Come over her son." Sean looks at him and stands up to walk over to the man sitting in the large chair by the window. The man moves to the edge of the chair and Sean bends over his knees and lies across them. The man rubs his back to calm the boy down and begins to smack him on his bottom with his bare hand. The hand was hard and firm against the boys bottom and after the tenth smack, Sean begins to sob and soon was crying openly as his bottom began to feel like it was burning and almost ready to burst into flames. The man stopped at fifty smacks and rubbed the boy's back to calm him down before continuing and finishing the spanking. When he finally reaches the last smack the boy is crying loudly with tears streaming down his face. The man helps the boy stand up and then gently sets him over his lap and not on his bottom. He hugs the boy and lets him cry into his shoulder and rocks him as he calms down.

Sean looks up and says, "I am sorry."

"I know son. Why don't you go up to your room now and rest a while." He nods his head and gets up to leave the office. When he opens the door and sees momma still standing there with tears coming down her cheeks, he runs to her and hugs her.

"I'm sorry momma."

"Go upstairs and take a rest." She kisses him on the forehead and moves him along.

"David, come into the office now." David stands up and with the dignity of living more than fifty years on this planet, he walks into the office and stands before the man. "Sit down David."

"I would prefer to stand."

"I would prefer that we didn't have to do this. You will sit down." Dave looks at him and sits down on a chair across from him. "I am most disappointed in you Dave. Being the person who has actually lived the longest even though you are not currently the oldest child makes you more responsible in trying to keep the others in line. You failed to do so. I am not happy that you were not the voice of reason and adult logic when Sean brought up having a drink."

"I am sorry sir. I really wanted to feel like an adult again and I thought that it would help."

"Did it?"

"Excuse me sir?"

"Did it help you feel like an adult again?"

"No sir. It just felt like I was out of control of the situation. When Sean put the bourbon in the bottle for Aaron, I knew in the back of my mind that I should stop it but my reactions were slow and I wasn't thinking very clearly. I am responsible for not stopping it and I do accept my punishment for it."

"I will be spanking you. You will receive one smack for each year of your real chronological age and one for each year of your current age. This amounts to more than sixty. I will be giving you a break in that you do not have to remove your pants. This will not be a bare bottom spanking. If it happens again, it will be on your bare bottom. Do you understand David?"

"Yes sir."

"Come over here." The man once again sat on the edge of the chair and David came over and bent over his knee. He laid across the man's large lap and braced himself for the smacks. The director rubbed his back to calm him and then began to smack his bottom. He lasted until fifteen smacks were done before he began to sob and then cry openly from the increasing burning in his bottom. Once again, the man stopped at fifty and rubbed the boy's back to calm him down. He continued until all smacks were given and let the boy lay on his knees for a few seconds before standing him up and then placing him seated on his lap, being careful of his bottom. He hugged the boy, who placed his face into the man's shoulder and cried loudly. After many minutes, the boy calmed down enough to regain his composure and sit up.

"David, I want you to go upstairs now and rest in your bed." The boy did not answer except with a nod of his head. He stood up and went out the door. He also sees momma standing there and goes to her as well. He hugs her and then breaks to go upstairs.

"Derek you may come in now." Derek gets up off the bench and enters the room where the director is sitting in the big chair. "Hello Derek."

He mumbles, "'lo sir." His head is so low that his chin is on his chest.

"I am disappointed in you Derek for accepting the alcohol. You should not have done so and you know that."

"Yes, sir. I made a mistake sir and deserve whatever punishment you give. You and momma are my caretakers and I am sorry that I disappointed you and failed momma's trust."

"Acknowledged. I am going to spank you the number of smacks will be your real chronological age plus your current age. This amounts to a little over forty smacks on your bottom. It will not be a bare bottom at this time but if it happens again, you will get it on your bare bottom. Come and bend over my knees." With some trepidation, Derek comes over and bends over to lie down on his knees. The director rubbed his back to calm him down and then began to spank the boy. After the first ten Derek began to sob and then cry as his bottom began to burn. After twenty-five smacks, the director takes a break and rubbed the boy's back to calm him down. He continued to do all the smacks that he said he was going to do. He rubbed the back and then had him stand up and sit on his lap while he hugged and comforted the boy so that his cries were merely sobs and the tears stopped flowing freely. The director rocked him until he was calm and had stopped crying. The boy got off his lap and looked at the man.

"I want you to go upstairs and take a rest on your bed. Stay there until you are told to come down."

"Yes sir." Derek goes to the door and when he enters the hall he goes to momma who hugs him tightly and smoothes his hair down on his head as she kisses his forehead. "I am sorry momma. I didn't mean to disappoint you and hurt you."

"I know that baby; you go take a rest now." He leaves and runs upstairs to lie on his bed. Upstairs, he sees the other boys already lying down. None of the boys talk but there is still some sobs and crying going on as their bottoms are still feeling like they are on fire.

Back downstairs, the director goes to the door and sees momma still standing there looking profoundly sad about what is happening to her boys and now her big little boy has to face his punishment.

"Spencer, come in." Spencer looks up at the man and slowly gets off the bench to follow the man into the office. The man goes over to his chair and motions for Spencer to come and sit on his lap. The boy comes over and climbs onto the man's lap. The man just sits and holds the boy who looks up at him in wonderment. "Spencer, did you choose to drink the whiskey when it was handed to you by your brother."

"I didn't want to at first and tried to convince them that what they were doing was wrong and we would be punished for it. They didn't seem to believe me and then teased me about being a baby and I wanted to show that I wasn't a baby. I am sorry grandpa." The boy starts to earnestly cry. The man hugs the boy.

"I do need to punish you for making the decision to drink the whiskey. I am going to spank you." The boy cries louder. "Come on and buck up and let's do this." The boy looks up with tears in his eyes at the man. "I am going to give you one smack for every year of your real chronological age and one smack for each year of how old you are now. This equals to just over thirty smacks on your clothed bottom. It is not going to be on your bare bottom so it won't hurt as bad. I need to bend you over my knee now."

He moves the boy into position and rubs his back to calm him down. Spencer just looks down at the man's shoes crying as the man gave the first smack. Because of the age of the boy and that he is so small the man gives very gentle and light smacks. But he does want to make an impression that what the boy did was not to be tolerated. When the spanking is over, the man takes the boy in his arms and hugs him. He stands up and goes out the door where momma waits to see her little boy. She takes him from grandpa's arms and goes upstairs with him. She lays him on his bed and then checks out the others who have all fallen asleep with tears on their cheeks and wet pillows.

Momma waited until Spencer fell asleep and then left the room. She goes to the office where the director is having a very stiff drink.

"How are you doing?"

"I have a very sore hand right now. This was not an afternoon that I would have expected to experience."

"Our boys didn't either, I'm sure. I am going back to the hospital to spend the night with Aaron. Can you handle the boys and girls tonight? I will be back tomorrow. Dr. Hovde thinks Aaron can come home tomorrow and I want to prepare him for it."

"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Give a big kiss to each of children and let them know that they are safe and good here."

"I will."


	16. Up Goofy

+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Sixteen. Up Goofy

Aaron has been acting like a normal 11-month-old baby since getting out of the hospital. He is not talking like he had been and does not act like he remembers life before being what he is now. He toddles around and goes to different people to be picked up. Strangers don't bother him as much anymore, except that he still prefers momma and always likes to know where she is at.

The only person that has nothing to do with him is Sean. Sean keeps looking at him and trying to find his big brother in that baby's body. He goes to bed each night crying when he remembers the day and he couldn't see his brother. Every time that Aaron comes near him he walks away. He will not pick him up or do anything with him. Aaron just looks at him in bewilderment and confusion and soon stops going to him.

When momma finally got home and started to normalize their lives again she makes a discovery that does not please her. Grandpa has been putting Spencer in a diaper twenty four hours a day. She discovers that when he comes to her.

"Momma, will you change me? I am not feeling comfortable."

"Change you?" She looks at him funny because his clothes look clean to her. "Your clothes look clean. What do need to have changed?"

"My diaper."

"What!? You don't wear diapers during the day."

"I did at the hospital and grandpa still makes me wear one."

"Your body was full of alcohol at the hospital and had little control. But since you got home you should be okay."

"I told him that but he says that if I needed them then what makes me not need them now. So I am wearing them now. It kind of helped when I was spanked. It gave me a little more padding."

She smiled at that little tidbit and picked up her little boy to take him to the boy's room and change his pants. She did not put him back in a diaper but put a pair of dinosaur underpants on him.

"If the dinosaurs get wet, you go back in a diaper."

"I understand mommy." He jumps down from the changing table and runs back down stairs.

Momma goes to find the director and discovers him in the office.

"Hello 'father'.

"You sound angry Rebecca."

"I'm not really angry more like irritated that you would be putting one of my boys in a diaper when he doesn't need to be."

"You're talking about Spencer." She nods her head and her eyebrows in wonder. "He came home wearing one and I just continued putting him in one. I didn't really know if he was fully trained. I decided to err on the side of caution. I know that he wears pull-ups when he sleeps or takes a nap so I wasn't sure about the rest of the time."

"What did the kids tell you?"

"They told me that he didn't need to wear them but I still chose to err on the side of caution.

"He doesn't need them so don't put them on him again without talking to me first about it. Okay?"

"I understand; no diapers for Spencer." She leaves him in the office and goes to start lunch for her children.

The days go by and the family is either at grandpa's house or at the institute or working at the offices in Quantico. They are still following the order that momma had set up with the director several months before. There have been a few field assignments but nothing that has put them in the sight of blood or death.

The Saturday before Mother's day the kids are playing in the play room and Sean gets up to go get a soda from the kitchen. Aaron sees him get up and runs over to him but Sean does not see him coming. Like many people, we forget to look down to see where our feet are going and can hit something little going the same way. Sean and Aaron bang into each other and the baby falls down and starts to cry. Sean looks down and although he wants to pick up the baby to console him he doesn't but tries to continue to walk away like he had been doing for more than a week.

David comes over and says, "What did you do? He's just a baby and you don't have to run over him." He bends to pick up Aaron but the baby scuttles away. He doesn't want David to pick him up.

"I didn't run over him. He ran into me and he's not just a baby. He used to be a man who could handle anything. So stop babying him." Sean pushes David away from him when David stood back up. Sean walks away and David then attacks him from behind and the boys begin a fracas of frustration and irritation. They begin to roll around and punch each other.

The others just watch as the two boys roll around and hit each other. They have forgotten about Aaron who is sitting on the floor just watching the boys, tears still on his cheeks but none coming from his eyes anymore. He had cried more from the unexpectedness of falling then from being hurt.

Momma in the meantime had been doing some laundry while the kids played inside on that rainy day. She hears the fracas coming from the play room and goes to check it out. She does not like what she finds.

"WHAT is going on in here?" She goes and rings the gong that is hanging on the wall, a gong that was put there in order to take people's mind off what they are doing and pay attention to the person at the gong. All of the children stop what they are doing and look at her. Sean and David were looking worse for the wear with each having a bloody nose and scraped knuckles. David has what appears to be a beginning black eye and Sean had blood dripping from a gash in his upper arm.

David is the first to speak saying, "He pushed Aaron down."

Sean yelled, "I did not, he bumped into me while I was leaving the room and he was running across to somewhere else."

"That's not the way I saw it."

"Then maybe you should open your eyes better and see what actually is." David lunges after Sean again and the two begin to fight again. Momma hits the gong again and then goes to each of her big boys and grabs an ear of each boy.

"Ow, ow, ow." is heard from each of the boys as she practically drags them from the playroom. She is exuding anger from every pore of her body as she takes them upstairs to her bedroom.

She calls back, "Jennifer, you are in charge. Everyone stay in the playroom until I get back." The others stopped as they had all been following and slowly and with unhappy movements turn back into the playroom. They really wanted to see what momma is going to do to the big boys. The only one that didn't go back was Aaron, who continued to follow momma to the bottom of the stairs. He tries to climb but is still unable to do so. He lets out a wail and plops down on his bottom to wait for momma and boys to come back down.

Upstairs in momma's bedroom, the boys are let go and just stand looking at her. She just looks at them.

"What is this really about?"

"He pushed Aaron down."

"I did not. It was an accident and he bumped into me."

"Boys, yelling at each other does not help the situation." She sits down in her rocking chair with the first aid kit on a table next to her. She motions to the boys to come closer. David comes over and she begins to search his face and body for injuries that need to addressed. When David was fixed up; Sean came over and she then took care of his injuries.

"I am once again disappointed in the two of you. You are older and I expect more control and responsible behavior from the two of you. Sean, you are the oldest of the boys in this family. You need to remember that what you do teaches and influences the younger boys. David, you are oldest of the agents in this household. You have lived longer and have more experience in dealing with others; you must present an example of that experience and knowledge."

The boys hang their heads but do not feel too much guilt in what they did. Sean is frustrated because of what Aaron is like right now and feeling guilty for what he did to him. David is frustrated because he knows what Sean is feeling but is also concerned about his friend and former boss. He is angry about what happened to him and blames Sean so is taking it out on him whenever he sees Sean do something to him again. They are just taking their frustrations about the situation out on each other.

Momma is not concerned about that right now. She wants them to stop the fighting and realize that the situation is what it is and will probably not change.

"I realize that you are angry and frustrated about what has happened to Aaron but taking it out on each other is not going to make it better. What you are doing is lowering the morale of the family and hurting each other and your younger sibling's sense of being a unit. It needs to stop. I am surprised at the both of you. I want you to stand in the corner, one on the left side and the other on the right side of the door. I will be back later and you better still be there when I come back."

The boys go stand in the corner on the left side and then start to push the other out to go to the right side.

"Boys, do not start that again." David decides to move over to the right side, he doesn't want a worse punishment like another spanking. Momma walks out the door and heads back downstairs. When she gets to the bottom step, she sees Aaron lying on the floor sucking his thumb and sleeping. She smiles and picks him up to take him back to the playroom.

"Jennifer, I thought I said to keep the other children in here."

"I couldn't find where he went and I didn't want to leave the playroom and leave the others alone. I figured he was trying to find you and that he did. Where was he?"

"At the bottom of the steps sleeping but it looks like he wasn't happy when he went to sleep. I am going to start dinner now. The older boys are upstairs where they will be staying until dinner." She hand Aaron to Jennifer who takes him into the playroom and momma heads to the kitchen.

An hour later, a scream is heard from the playroom, Jennifer comes into the kitchen a few minutes later with a screaming baby who calms down as soon as he sees momma.

"Hello Jennifer, I see you have a bundle of joy in your arms."

"Ha ha, more like a screaming banshee. Here take him please."

Momma laughs at the girl's description of the baby in her arms.

"Why don't you get the others and set the table for dinner. It should be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Does that include Sean and David?"

"No, I will get them. I mean the younger ones who can help you set the table." Jennifer leaves the room and momma heads upstairs to her bedroom with Aaron in her arms. Going into the room, she sees both of her boys still standing in the corners that they had been in when she left.

"You may leave your corners, go to the bathroom and come downstairs for dinner." They both try to say something to momma but her stony face stopped them from doing so. They went to do what she says.

Back downstairs the others are setting the table, Jennifer gets out the silverware, Derek gets out the plates, Emily sets the glasses and Spencer puts the seasonings and napkins on the table. When momma gets back down she puts Aaron into his chair at the table and begins to fix the food to set on the table. Jennifer takes a platter of meat into the dining room and Emily and Spencer carry small bowls of vegetables while Derek carries a big bowl of mashed potatoes. Momma follows with a large bowl of salad greens. Sean and David had sat down at the table when they got to the dining room. The director came into the room just as the last of the food was placed on the table. He had been in his office all afternoon and chose to let momma handle the boys. He felt she could do that just fine and sees some subdued boys at the table.

After dinner, momma and the children go to the playroom, Sean and David are once again sent to stand in opposite corners of the playroom. Momma sits in the rocking chair and begins to read the story that she had been reading for a while now. She reads a few chapters a night. It is Emily's turn to sit in her lap while she reads. The others sit on the floor or on the bean bag chairs that are around the room.

Aaron does not sit anywhere but keeps running to different areas of the room like he was pacing or not sure of what he was doing. He keeps looking over at Sean with puzzlement on his face. He finally decides that he wants Sean to pay attention to him and goes over to stand by him in the corner.

Momma says, "Aaron, Sean is standing in the corner because he is being punished. You should not bother him while he is standing there." Aaron looks at her and then up at Sean.

He says. "Up Goofy."

Sean looks down at his brother with tears in his eyes when he hears Aaron say this to him. Aaron lifts up his arms.

He says again with more force, "UP Goofy."

Sean looks at momma and then again at Aaron and lifts him up and hugs him tightly in his arms and begins to cry with a large smile on his face.

Aaron looks at him and says, "No cry Goofy, everything okay now." Sean looks at him and smiles widely with more tears going down his face.

Everyone else is looking at this scene with great interest.

Momma says, "Sean, what does he mean that everything is okay now?"

Sean looks at momma and says, "It means my big brother is back."

There are a lot of Whats that are said by the others.

Sean answers, "Aaron used to call me Goofy when I was a little boy, and it was his nickname for me. Calling me goofy means he remembers who he is." He hugs the baby tightly who hugs him back just as tightly. "He once told me that he called that because I was always goofy looking with my hair sticking up in a lot of places. I had a lot of cowlicks."

Aaron looks at the others and pointed to Sean saying, "Goofy."

The others all come over and hug the two boys smiling and happy because it does seem that our boss man is back.

But is he completely healed or has there been some permanent damage. We will see as the months continue.


	17. A Day for Momma

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Seventeen. A Day for Momma

The next morning, the kids are very quiet because they don't want to wake up momma. It is mother's day and this is the first one ever for this woman. Last year they knew that they would not be children forever, now they aren't so sure so momma is going to have a mother's day. Sean is fixing breakfast and the others are getting each other dressed to go to church that Sunday morning. Grandpa is helping out with helping dress the younger children. It is a clean, dressed group of children that come into momma's room to wake her up. To encourage waking her, they put Aaron on the bed followed by Spencer and then Emily. They all sat on one side of her while the others stand on the other side of her near the bed. They hit the gong and she wakes up to a chorus of, "Happy Mother's Day!"

She is shocked and surprised at this saying, "What? This is not expected."

Jennifer says, "We know, but this is your first mother's day and we wanted it to be special for you."

Momma hugs her little ones on the bed and then her young ones on the side of the bed as Derek and David crawl on the bed after she sits up. Sean puts a breakfast tray of crepes with juice and a bouquet of eight flowers in a glass vase.

He says, "We have all eaten breakfast and are ready for church when you are ready to go. Church starts in about an hour. So we will leave you alone now to eat and get dressed." He kisses her cheek and goes around the bed to lift the little ones off the bed and shoo them out of the room.

Forty-five minutes later momma meets her children down in the hall and they head out the door to the church. At the church there is a special treat given to the mothers and women of the congregation by the children of the congregation. The women are given flowers with chocolate kisses attached to them. Momma was pleased by the actions of her children and how well-behaved they were. They head to a mother's day buffet at a local restaurant for lunch after church. The children then gave momma a gift. Each one gave something a little different. But they all included pictures and memories of their time together. She loved them and will put them with her most precious items.

That afternoon, the little ones were put down for a nap and the older ones quietly played a game together. Momma just watched and enjoyed them but she decides to take a long luxurious spa style bath.

She goes to the large bathroom with the Jacuzzi tub and puts jasmine and lavender candles around for aromatherapy while they are lit. She put a good book beside the tub to read and then started a system of soft music to play. She undressed and lowered herself into the warm water and began to bask in the bubbles and listening to the soft music.

In the playroom, the older children play and Spencer and Emily join them when they wake up from their naps. Not long after, Aaron starts to move around and Jennifer hears this on the baby monitor and goes to get him out of his crib.

He sees her and says, "Where's momma?"

"She is taking a bath and you are not going to bother her." He squirms out of her arms and runs to the bathroom where momma is bathing. He begins to bang on the door and yells, "Momma! Momma!"

Jennifer comes running after him and says, "Aaron, leave momma alone. This is her day and she wants privacy for her bath."

In the bathroom, momma is listening to her baby screaming for her and then Jennifer admonishing him and he sniffles loudly as he starts to cry because he wants her. She calls out, "Jennifer, come in with him." She puts a towel over herself and the two come in the door. She looks at Aaron, "What is your problem Aaron?" He smiles and runs over to the tub and reaches to be picked up by her. She does not pick him up.

He glares at her and says, "Bath with momma."

"You want to take a bath with me?" He nods his head and lifts his arms up again. She looks up at Jennifer and sighs, "Would you undress him and bring him to me." Jennifer picks him and he was smiling widely as she undressed him and then placed him into the tub with momma.

"We should only be about another hour, could you and Sean start dinner. There is a casserole in the refrigerator to go into the oven at 375 degrees. Fix a salad with the fresh vegetables in the fridge. Make a pitcher of kool-aid with limited amount of sugar. You could also make a fruit salad with the different canned and fresh fruits. There is whipped cream in the freezer. Anything else you and Sean can think of would also be good."

"Okay momma, are you sure that you want him in here with you?"

"It is not a matter of want as I don't want to hear him screaming. Actually I am probably spoiling him badly but it is not like he going to grow and mature so I might as well spoil him. I don't think he was spoiled much the first time he was this age."

"You spoil all of us in many ways, but we know that it is only because you care and you really have never been a mother. Be careful that he doesn't use you. I'll go start dinner with Sean. Have fun with him." The girl leaves the room.

Momma removes the wet towel from her body and looks at her baby. He smiles and falls toward her and gives her a big wet kiss on the cheek. She bounces him up and down in the water and tells him to close his eyes which he does. She sets him completely in the water and when he comes out he giggles loudly as she tickles him and he pumps his legs around in the water.

After about fifteen minutes of playing in the water, mommas places Aaron across her stomach as she leans back once more and holds him so that his head is above the water. The two people look at each and just enjoy the warmth of the water and each other's body. Momma closes her eyes as she leans her head back. Aaron watches her relax and sees the tension leave her face and body. He lies there and decides to try something. Momma is enjoying herself feeling the soft baby next to her and imagining it to be the man that she had in her arms at Christmas. All of a sudden she feels something that she has never felt in her life, a tugging on her right breast. She opens her eyes and looks down at the Aaron with his mouth attached to the nipple of the breast in question. She looks at him questioningly.

"There is nothing there for you; it is as dry as the desert." He opens his eyes to look at her but does not tugging at the breast. He seems to be happy whether there is anything or not. She moves him into a more comfortable position while he continues to tug at her breast. She closes her eyes and is actually feeling very marvelous as the baby tugs. The sensations that each tug makes through her body makes her just want more and she wished that she did have milk in her breast so that they could do this more often.

After about a half an hour of this, momma knows that it is time to get out. The water was beginning to cool dramatically, so she opened the drain to let the water go out. She grabbed another towel and wrapped Aaron in it and set him out of the tub on the rug of the tile floor. She hoists herself up and gets out of the tub and dries herself off and then puts her robe and then grabs Aaron and dries him off completely before taking him to the boys room where she diapers and dresses him in a cute crawler that has a saying on the front that said 'Momma's boy', quite appropriate for our baby boss man.

After dressing him they head to her room where she dresses in a lovely dress and brushed her hair and put it up. They go downstairs to the kitchen and check on the food in the oven and it definitely looks like the kids have been busy as the table has been set and the vegetable and fruit salads have been made with the kool aid is chilling in the freezer.

Momma and Aaron head to the playroom where she sees all of her children sitting around the rocking chair where the director is reading a story. He sees her when he looks up and the kids turn around. There was a stampede of bodies that got up and rushed over to her. She looked down at each of the six faces and felt a deep sense of concern and gentleness for each one of them. She looks up and sees the face of Penelope standing there and reached over to touch her lovely face.

"Why don't we go have dinner, it looked like it was ready when I was just in there."

The kids yelled, "Yeah." They ran to the bathroom to wash their face and hands before heading to the dining room or the kitchen. Momma follows with the director by her side.

"Are you getting too close Rebecca?"

"No Bob. Everything is okay. I plan to tell them tonight. It will take a while but you will have most of your agents back." Aaron is still in her arms and is confused by what she says. When the adults get to the dining room, momma puts Aaron into his seat and she saw Spencer, Emily and Derek already sitting down. The director goes to take his seat and momma begins to head to the kitchen where she is waylaid by David who leads her back to her seat.

"We are serving tonight. You just sit momma." He goes to pour a glass of red wine for the director and then a glass of red wine for momma. Momma doesn't drink very often and usually it is very light alcohol when she does. He pours the kool-aid in the glasses for everyone else. Jennifer is bringing in the salads and Penelope brings in the casserole while Sean finishes up in the kitchen and comes with anything was forgotten.

They say grace and lift their glasses to momma for a mother's day and serve themselves of the tater-tot hamburger casserole and salads. After dinner, the kids clear the table and then momma asks them to come back and sit down as she as something to tell them.

She looks around the table at each of her eight children. She begins to talk, "I look around and feel a great deal of gratitude and thankfulness that I have had this time with each of you. You have given me a sense of love and family that I never had. Thank you for this wonderful day. It won't happen again because next year at this time you will probably be with your own families or doing something that single people without children like to do." There appears to be questioning faces looking at her and a few wanted to make comments. She puts up her hand to stop them.

"Three weeks ago, the techs at the institute finally broke through the last of the melted plastic and discovered the microchip which should hold your adult codes to change you back." There were many smiles around the table at that remark.

David says, "You said should hold our adult codes, are you saying that it doesn't?" The others look at him and then questioningly at momma.

"Not exactly David."

"Then what exactly are you saying?"

"As I was saying, the chip has been found and they have been analyzing it. In fact, Penelope has not been working at the main building downtown but has been going to the institute to assist since she is very well-versed in many types of codes. She of course could not talk about it due to its top secret clearance. Even to you, even though you definitely are involved in the project." Momma sighs and takes a sip of her wine. "They have found adult codes on the chip, there should be eight of them distinct from other but only seven have been found."

"What does that mean?"

"What, only seven?"

"What happened to the eighth?"

"What does that mean for us?"

She puts up her hand again to stop the flow of questions from them.

"It means that we will be able to restore seven of you to your former bodies and lives, the eighth has been lost and the person will remain in the body they currently have."

Another chorus of whats and questions. But there are a few tears and some crying now being done, especially by those that are afraid that they will be what they are forever and don't want to be. Momma puts up her hand again and the children quiet down but some crying is still being done and that tears at her as she wants to console them so much.

"We don't know who the missing adult is. The data is just a stream of numbers and code and we will not be able to determine who that code belongs to until it is sent out to meet its counterpart which is in your wrist devices. In the next two weeks they want to send out the first code. It will come at night while you are sleeping. You will go to bed as you are and wake as an adult. Everything around you will conform to your new body, like it had done before. They will be choosing a code at random and we don't know who it will be. About three to four weeks later they will send out another. Please be aware that when you change I am still momma until the director and his political friends can change your legal status. Until then, you will still legally be my child and the rules won't change just because you get bigger. We won't know who stays a child until after the last code is sent and whoever doesn't change is the one who will stay a child. You might have questions about aging. Right now, you are not aging or getting older, we believe that the device is dampening that and preventing it. Once the device is removed from your wrist you should begin to age again. If we remove it now then you will age from the child that you are so we are waiting until after returning you to your adult selves and then remove the device which will then allow you to age and grow again. For the one that doesn't change, the device will be removed and that person will age from where you now, normally and developmentally as you are. Are there other questions?

For the next hour, momma and the children discuss the process and the machine and codes. After a while however, some little bodies begin to fidget. It is at this time that momma puts a hold to it and takes Spencer to the potty and Aaron to the changing table to clean him up. She dresses the boys into their night sleepers and then has Emily and Derek put their night clothes on as well. They go to the playroom and momma rocks the little boys and they again listen while grandpa reads the story. An hour later, the little ones are put to bed and the older ones get their night clothes on and watch a movie until they go to bed themselves.

That night, there are many dreams and to many of them, nightmares about being the last to change and having to stay a child and relive going through puberty, school and zits.

Sean dreams that he has to back to high school and this time he doesn't have an older brother to call for help. He imagines that he has a huge zit on the end of nose that just seems to keep getting bigger.

David dreams that he has to back to school and doesn't remember anything that the school is saying and the rest of the class laughs at his attempts to fit in. He doesn't want to go back to school and be a kid again.

Jennifer dreams that Will tells her that he can't be with her anymore because she is too much of a child and decides to marry another woman who then raises her son.

Derek dreams that calls home to his mother and she doesn't recognize him or even want to know him.

Emily dreams that her mother wants her to come and live with her and then gets assigned to another country and she has to move and try to fit in another place with customs and language that she doesn't yet know.

Spencer dreams that the voices come back and he begins to see things that are not there and is always afraid of what is around the corner.

Aaron dreams that he is at the dinner table in his high chair and everyone else is an adult eating steaks and drinking a good glass of wine, even Haley and Jack are there and then momma takes him out of his chair and opens up her blouse and begins to feed him.

There are many whimpers and cries out this night and as momma listens to each of her children worry and dream of their worst fears about being a child again, her heart aches because she knows that there is nothing she can do to assuage those fears. It is a long night for your family.


	18. supporting One Another

+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Eighteen. Supporting each other

The following Tuesday, momma decides to take all of her children to the institute instead of sending them to work in Quantico. She drops off the little ones in the day care and the older ones go to the education room. She heads to her office and sits there reading her reports and assessments of what is currently happening by her people. But she doesn't really see what she is reading as she remembers another of poor night's sleep by each of her children; some even woke up crying out loud. She feels at such a loss of how she can help them understand and get through the what if possibilities of what might happen. She is concerned for Aaron as he is not talking in the way that he had been before the alcohol incident.

Today, when she dropped him off with Ms. Olson they discussed whether he should remain in the toddler room or go back to the baby room.

"Good morning Ms. Olson."

"Good morning Dr. Anderson."

"So how as my boy been doing?"

"Well, he is the smallest in the room and at 11 months, he is the youngest. We don't usually take them until after their first birthdays, but with you and knowing who he actually is we made an exception for him."

"But…"

"The past week has been hard; it seems he is not as focused or able as he had been."

"I told you what happened and the possible results of it. Over the weekend, we discovered him back. He has most of his memories and so he knows and can do things again. It just took time to heal and return to what he had."

"That's good but has he really returned to his full capabilities."

"I don't know. That is why at about ten minutes to ten o'clock I would like you to have him changed, fed, well-rested and ready for me to pick up. Dr. Hovde and his associates are going to be testing him today on his cognitive and spatial abilities. We will have a better idea of what loss may be there and problems that may occur."

"Today?"

"Yes."

"I'll have him ready for you and be hoping for the best."

"The best is all we can hope for." Momma watches as her little boy plays in the room before leaving to go to her office.

A few hours later, she heads to the education room to pick up her older children. They have expressed an interest in seeing the machinery and talking to the technicians working on getting their adult selves back and she is giving them that opportunity while Aaron is being tested. They head down to the day care where she picks up Aaron and her two little ones. She has had them wear warmer clothes today and a heavy sweater over them because the room that the machines are in is still kept very cold.

She drops everyone except Aaron with Ross who takes them and gives them a tour of the room and then introduces them to the main technicians working on their microdisk, Jane and Todd. They explain in more detail about the micro disks and how they were created and how they keep the information. There was a great deal of techno babble or vernacular that goes over some of the heads of our child agents and Sean. However, they listen carefully and ask relevant questions to what they want to know.

While the older ones are in with the machines, Aaron goes to the fourth floor with momma and is placed in the examination room with Dr. Hovde and the occupational therapists that will monitor and test the man baby about his abilities since the liquor incident. This was a test that was done several months ago to all of the children when they were being assessed as to where they were developmentally as children. The others do not indicate any change in their abilities but since the alcohol incident and the damage Aaron has exhibited changes.

As the hours go by and lunch comes, momma picks up her children at the machines with Aaron and takes them out to lunch in the warm spring air. Aaron is in the stroller while the others walk beside momma and they go around the neighborhood and get hot dogs, chips and soda at the vendor on the corner, except for Aaron, Spencer, Emily and Derek. Momma allows them to have the dogs and chips but has been carrying bottles of kool-aid in the diaper bag, only Aaron's has a nipple on it. They complained that couldn't have soda, but she doesn't want their baby teeth to rot before they come out. Derek is losing his baby teeth regularly lately; three in the past five months. After eating their lunch, momma gives each a piece of fruit for dessert and they head back to the institute. Aaron falls asleep in the stroller before they get there.

Upon arriving, Spencer and Emily go their classes and lay down for their naps after going to the potty. Derek and the older children go back to the education room and join in the soft ball game that is going on. Momma heads back to her office with Aaron in the stroller and put him in the travel crib there. She wants him to nap well, so that he can finish the tests later in the afternoon.

Later that afternoon, momma picks up her baby and then her big kids and heads down to the day care center. Before she heads out however, the doctor gives her a preliminary report of the tests that Aaron has taken. She tucks it away in the diaper bag so that she can read it when she gets home.

On the way to the parking lot and the van, it slips out and David picks it up to give to her and 'accidently' takes a peek at it. What he sees does not please him and returns the file to the bag. He looks at momma with worried eyes and she returns the look with one of resignation and gives him a hug.

"It will be okay."

He just hugs her and gets in the van.

That night after dinner and time together in the playroom momma is reading the reports and what she reads saddens her but she thinks it was expected from what the doctor had told about where the damage was in his brain. She rocks Aaron with a bottle in his mouth and he falls asleep so that she puts him in his crib and sets up the baby monitor.

Back downstairs, the others are in the playroom quietly talking about what they had seen today and about what the report from the tests that Aaron took might say.

Momma begins to talk, "I hope that you enjoyed seeing the machines and learning what it is exactly that you had gone through and what they monitored and analyzed. Today, as you know Aaron took some tests, you all took these same tests last January to determine your age and the developmental status that you are at. That is why we know that you are a little younger than we had expected. Aaron took those tests again today because of what happened a few weeks ago. What sent you boys to the hospital and injured part of Aaron's brain. There is some intellectual loss."

At this remark, Sean groans softly as he knows that what happened was his fault and once again he learns the folly of that decision. He now knows that he didn't kill his brother but he did hurt him greatly.

"The tests indicate a loss in cognitive functions; he has seemed to have forgotten some of the things that he had learned as a child. He has his memories and knows who he is and what he has done but it would be difficult for him to do some of the things that he used to be able to do. It seems he doesn't know the alphabet any longer. He has lost the ability to read and write as well as do mathematical equations and even simple arithmetic. He does not recognize letters or numbers. I thought possibly this may occur when the doctor told me of the area that appeared to be damaged. The area is part of the main long term memory and communications centers. He will continue to have difficulty speaking and not just because of the fact that he doesn't have a lot of teeth. But because he doesn't comprehend a full sentence or different tenses any longer."

"It sounds like he became a young child rather than to be the man that he was."

"It only sounds like that. He is still able to understand what is said to him and knows how to do things he just needs to relearn the tools to do them. This is what you need to help him with. We will get alphabet blocks and games, memory games, numbers and letters so that we help him learn again. Do you want to help with this project and work with Aaron to relearn these things?"

There is a bevy of yeses and nods and definitely let's do it by the people sitting with momma.

"We need to remember though to keep his dignity and remember that within that baby's body is a man who is going to feel bad by having to relearn these things which we in many ways take for granted as adults. It will make him feel less like an adult than he already does. Let us try to help without taking away his adult dignity. It will take tolerance and a great deal of patience."

"We can do it and don't worry momma. We won't hurt his adult pride. We all have feeling too sometimes of feeling less like an adult. That's why Sean did what he did and the rest of us did it too. We wanted to feel less like a child and more like an adult again. What we didn't think about was that it really wasn't something that can make adults." Says David.

Momma is pleased at what she hears from her children and looks at each with a sense of pride and enjoyment of knowing who they are. She wants to discuss something else with them.

"I am concerned about each of you now. Since I told you about the problems of the microdisk and that one of might not be able to return to your adult life but remain as you are you have been having some bad dreams and it worries me. I don't know what the dreams but I want you to understand that even if you are the one that doesn't regain your adult self you will be okay. You will age normally and in ten or twenty be a part of the BAU again or something else that you may want to do. Your life will be relived. Many would consider this kind of like a fountain of youth and one of you will experience it fully. Legally, all of you are my responsibility and that won't change even after you become an adult again."

"What do mean by that?"

"You will have to prove that you are fully capable of caring for yourself again before you will be allowed to do so. Otherwise, you remain with me and I have no intention of allowing someone else to take over and that includes your biological families. They can be a part of life but will not control it in any way. If you afraid that they won't know you or remember you, that won't happen either because your families already know what you look like and what you have been doing. Believe me when I say you are in good hands and your life is going to be good whether you return to adulthood or not. You do need to start getting ready because I have rented a three bedroom apartment which we will be moving into in two weeks. Furniture has already started to arrive and I hope you like the place. The boys will be in one room and the girls in another. I actually plan to share with the girls and we will make the other bedroom a place for games and toys. Think about how you want to decorate when we get there. Now it is time for bed."

At these words, our agent children realize that this woman does not leave anything to chance and know them better than they may know themselves. They get up one at a time and hug and kiss her before heading up to bed.

For the next week, our family has begun to set up games and memory exercises with Aaron and the bad dreams have lessened for the children.

At the institute, the assistants and Ross have been preparing to send the first code through.

Ross says, "Are you ready?"

"We don't know who it is, do we?"

"No and we won't know until Dr. Anderson calls us tomorrow about who changed."

"If anybody, we don't really know that it will work and that the codes will go through."

"That is true we don't but we have to try. Start it up and send it through."


	19. Derek

+A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Nineteen. Derek

He reached out and stretched with his toes reaching down and startled by feeling the wood of the foot board of his bed. He thinks the footboard of his bed? What is going on? Opening his eyes he looks down and sees very large feet at the foot of his bed and then looked at his hands and sees large manly hands that were not the same color they were the night before. He jumps up and bangs his head on the bed above him.

"Ouch." He jumps out of the bed and runs to the see himself in the mirror that was on the closet door. He can't believe what he sees, a face he hasn't seen since Christmas Day at dinner time. He takes his clothes off to take inventory and see if everything was there. He was thrilled to see that it was and gave out a giant yell.

"ALL RIGHT!" He put his pajamas back on and ran down the hall to see momma. He knocks on her door. "Momma, Momma!" he says in his deep adult male voice. She opens the door to see one of her adult 'children'.

"Hello Derek, it is good to see you taller than me again." He lifted her up and swung her around.

"It is good to be taller than you again." She hugs him and has him come into her room. He feels like bouncing all over the place from the excitement and happiness that he feels at being an older person again. She watches him do that.

"I have clothes for you." She goes to the trunk at the foot of her bed and takes a bag with his name on it and hands it to him. In the bag is a set of clothes and a shave kit for him to use. He takes it and goes to the bathroom where he dresses and shaves. It feels so strange to him to do this again after not having to shave for more than a year. He sees his clean shaven adult face in the mirror and smiles widely. He can't wait to show everyone and is thrilled that he is the first to return to adulthood. When he comes out of the bathroom in the slacks and shirt that momma had bought him she is dressed and waiting for him.

While he was in the bathroom, Sean had gotten Aaron out of his crib and Aaron had run down the hall to her room. She let him in after he started banging on the door. After changing him and dressing him, she sat down in her rocking chair and had gotten out a bottle of formula for breakfast. He saw Derek come out of the bathroom and clapped his hands at seeing his colleague once again. Derek went and picked his former boss man and hugged him greatly after swinging him around and throwing him in the air with glee and happiness. Aaron giggles with laughter. Momma and her two boys left the room to head to the dining room for breakfast. Down in the room, a chorus was heard.

"Oh my God."

"It's Derek."

"He's back."

Momma speaks up, "As you can see they sent a code and it went through. One of you is back in adult form. But Derek, you are still my little boy and it is breakfast time." The family sits and eats the pancakes that Sean and Jennifer had made. The director had left already to go to work so he will learn about Derek's adultness later. Momma will take everyone to the institute today where the children will go to their regular rooms and Derek will be with momma.

He says, "I don't really see why I have to go with you. I am capable of staying home alone."

"That may be true however you need to be checked over to make sure that everything is okay and you need to have tests to check your abilities. Dr. Hovde will be handling it and you will do what you are told when we get there."

"Yes ma'am."

The family head there and momma and Derek go to talk to Dr. Hovde and he begins the physical exam. Momma heads to the machine room and talks to Ross and the assistants that Derek had returned to his adult form.

"All right, it went through." They begin to run assessments on the wrist device and see how it well it is working. They process the information coming in from Derek's body to determine how the machine is affecting his body.

Dr. Hovde is examining Derek and comparing his measurements to the last exam that he had as an adult to make sure that he is fine and that no long term effects have hurt him. There is some loss of muscle tone but his cognitive and spatial abilities remain. Some physical therapy and strengthening exercises will get back his muscles. The man is excited about being an adult again and doing what he loves to do and that is to catch bad guys. This makes him a little squirmy and impatient for the exams to be over. The exams do take all day to do and it is after four when Dr. Hovde finally finishes up and sends him up to momma's office. Derek leaves the exam rooms and goes to momma's office and when he gets there she is sitting at her desk.

"Hi, momma. I don't think that I have ever been to your office. I know the younger kids have but I never had to come here. I guess you could say that I didn't get send to the Principal's office when I was down in the big kid's room."

"Interesting thought. How were the exams?'

"Tedious."

"Yeah, thorough exams are just that. Please sit and read something until I am ready to go. It shouldn't be too long."

"Okay." He begins to look around her office and finds books and magazines spread around the place. He sat on the sofa and began to read a magazine about architecture.

A short while later, the two leave her office and big up the big kids and then head to the day care center for the little ones. Derek had called Garcia while waiting in momma's office.

"Speak to the goddess of the all-knowing."

"Hey baby girl, how about coming to dinner tonight?"

"This sounds strangely like my chocolate Adonis, Derek Morgan but that can't be. He is currently a little boy of seven."

"Well, that little boy went to bed last night and woke up as a full grown man."

"Yeah, they sent a code through and it was yours."

"Yeah, isn't that fabulous. Well what about baby girl, you want to come to dinner tonight?"

"You can guarantee I will be there at 6:30; tell momma that I will bring dessert with me so she doesn't have to fix anything."

"I will tell momma that you are bringing dessert. See you at 6:30.

For the next several weeks, there is a period of adjustment for the family because momma is still Derek's legal guardian she makes the decisions for him and he begins to get frustrated a little to live his own life again. He loves being around the others but wants to date and resume his single adult life again. Momma decides to send him away for awhile.

"Derek."

"Yeah momma."

"I think you should head out of town for awhile."

"What do you mean?"

"There are some people that would like to see you and have missed hearing and seeing you. You should go and say hi to them."

"Who are you talking about momma?"

"I have a round trip ticket for you to head to Chicago. Your mother needs to see you and you need to see her." Derek looks at her and then hugs her fiercely.

"When do I go?"

"Tomorrow morning, your mother and sisters are expecting you."

The man heads to the boy's room and begins to pack his few belongings in a suitcase to head home. He is excited and happy.

The rest of the family are preparing to move into the new apartment that momma has rented and most everything is packed up and ready to go except what is in current use.

In Chicago, Derek gets out of the cab and looks at the house he grew up in. He knocks at the door and when it opens a beautiful face looks out at him. It is his sister Sara and she squeals when she sees him. Hugs and kisses all around when he comes in and sees the family it is a great reunion. They ask him what he has been doing and he is uncertain as to what he should say until Sara admits that they know that he was in a scientific experiment and had become a child again. She mentions that she did see him last August in Washington D. C. and couldn't believe that he had been a little white boy. There is fun and laughter all around for the next few weeks while Derek gets to know his family again.

Three days before he is scheduled to head back to D. C. a problem occurs when he is out doing some shopping for his mother. An old friend who is a member of a gang in the area stops him and they get into a heated argument. A while later, the police come to question him about the argument because the friend had turned up dead in an alley; he had been strangled and beaten.

They take him in to the precinct and he calls his mother about where he is. She is surprised because he had been behaving himself and she was at a loss about what to do. The problem is that Derek is still considered a child and under the guardianship of momma in D. C. at least until the judge declares him independent again and the court date is still a month away. Mrs. Morgan calls momma.

The phone rings and Jennifer answers, "Hello."

"Hello, is Dr. Anderson there?"

"Yes, she is. May I tell her who is calling?"

"This is Derek's mother in Chicago."

"Oh, hello Mrs. Morgan; I will go get momma." There is a short wait.

"Hello Mrs. Morgan; what has happened."

"Why do you think something has happened?"

"You wouldn't call me right now if something hadn't happened since Derek is there with you."

"Something has happened, Derek has been arrested."

"Arrested? What happened?"

"I sent him to the store yesterday and he got into an argument with an old friend who wound up beaten and dead last night."

"And they think Derek did the deed. Is there a chance that he did it?"

"None but they won't listen."

"I will come out there and talk with them. I will be on the next plane to Chicago and get a hotel room downtown. I will see you later.

"I'll see you later."

At the new apartment, momma calls her children together and lets them know that they will be heading to Chicago because Derek was in trouble. She tells them to get a few articles of clothing together and pack them in the large suitcase that she has. She gets a few outfits for herself and for the little boys, Aaron and Spencer. Jennifer and Sean pack the suitcase while momma calls and orders tickets on the next plane to Chicago and makes reservations at her favorite hotel in Chicago. Within hours they are traveling to the airport and heading to Chicago. Momma had originally planned to head out with just the baby but the director was out of town that week and Penelope was unavailable to babysit the others so she decided to bring the whole troupe. They could actually be useful in being able to profile the crime and find out who actually performed the deed.

After arriving, the family checks in to the hotel and the following morning head to the Morgan house.

"Hello Rebecca."

"Hello Mary. How is everything?"

"I don't know, it is like every time he comes home he gets into trouble."

"Well, I am sure that he is innocent of the charges against him, but you should never have let him go alone. I told you he wasn't supposed to do things alone yet."

"I know but he seemed to really want to help me by going to the store just a few blocks away. It wasn't far."

"It doesn't matter how far it was."

"I realize that now."

"I am going to the precinct now to get him but I don't want to take the others with me. Can you watch them for me?"

David speaks up, "I want to go with you and check on their reasons for thinking that Derek did this."

"I know that David but you have to be asked and that has not happened yet."

Aaron comes over to her and says, "I go with momma."

"No, you will stay here as well"

"No."

Momma turns back to Mary, "He might be a problem. He is very clingy at this time." Aaron glares at her.

"What is his body age?"

"About 11 months."

"That explains it, children are clingy at that age to their primary caregiver."

"It's nice to actually talk to a woman who has been a mother as long as you have been. I am very new at it."

"I had been told that Derek was eight under your care last year when Sarah saw him in D. C. she said that it was amazing to her what he looked like. Your machine must be a wonder to be able to change not only age but other factors about a body."

"Everything is fairly genetic it is just a matter of altering a particular genome or in some cases several in order to alter the physical appearance of a person. Most things that people think are important are really just a difference in a genome. Otherwise it is the cultural differences which are choices by people in how they want to live their life."

"You go get our boy and I'll look after the others."

"Thank you and it shouldn't be too long. I did bring a bag of extra clothes and food and things for them."

"We'll be fine."

Momma heads to the door and Aaron runs after her screaming no. Mary runs after him and picks him up. He struggles to get out of her arms but the experienced mother knows how to hold a screaming baby. She turns around and sees five other upset faces looking at her. Sean comes over and takes Aaron out of her arms and goes to the living room to sit with him as he slowly calmed down. The others go into the room and try to find something to do. Mary just looks at them and is not sure how to help them. She sees them as children but knows that like Derek, they are intellectually adults. She decides to let them be and find their own way.

At the police precinct, momma meets up with the detective who brought Derek in and talks with him.

"Thank you for seeing me and now you will let Derek go."

"Ma'am I am not going to do that."

"The evidence is against you because you really have nothing to prove that he killed only that they fought. Most fights do not end with someone dying. Your own coroner has declared that the man died of a gunshot to the head not from a physical fight. In fact the injuries to him from the fight were not life threatening. You found no gun on Derek and no evidence that Derek currently has a gun. What other evidence do you believe you have in order to continue to hold him here?"

"I can hold him for up to seventy two hours and have every intention to do so."

Momma then hands him a legal document to release him into her custody. The detective looks at the document and looks at her. He goes to make a phone call and a short while comes back with Derek by his side.

"Your paperwork is in order and you can have him but if we have questions please try to make available for us."

"We will probably be leaving for home tomorrow but if you have questions we will be here within twenty-four hours to answer them and if that's all we will leave now."

"That's all ma'am. Good bye Derek."

"Good bye sir." The two leave the station quietly. Derek keeps glancing over at momma but doesn't say anything to her as he knows that she is angry and doesn't want to make her angrier.

They return to the Morgan house and enter in to what looks like a small war of water. It seems to be the girls against the boys in a game of 'who can get the other team wetter' with water pistols. Desiree and Sarah had come and Mrs. Morgan had found some boxes of old toys in the closet.

Derek says, "Hey what's happening here?"

"Spencer rushes over to him and hands him a pistol saying, "Come on and help us get the girls."

Emily yells out, "Hey that gives you more than us."

David responds, "We had less than you in the first place. You have two adults and we didn't have any and Aaron only counts as half a person."

Aaron cries out, "Hey! I'm not half a person."

"You are in this game." Derek takes the gun and joins in the fracas.

Mary says, "Only thirty more minutes and then we put the guns away and find something else to do."

Momma asks her, "Where did you get all the guns."

"They actually were from a birthday party when Derek turned nine. We had an old-fashioned shoot out in the back yard with him and many of his friends."

"Earlier this year, they had found a bunch of water guns at the house and had fun shooting each other. Who could they get the wettest was the goal."

"It is actually nice to see my children playing together again. It has been a long time."

"It is good that brought extra clothes then. I learned that was necessary in Harvard last year. It was actually Derek who helped me to do that."

"Oh, do tell."

"We had gone to the park after several days of rain and it was a little muddy but they were okay on that; they kept themselves fairly good until Derek decides he wants to walk in the puddle at the edge. He didn't see that there was a big hole in the middle of it. He fell in the hole and landed on his bottom. Mud from head to toe and as I had anticipated that messes might be made so I had brought an extra outfit for him. I had to pick him up out of the hole and carried him to the bathroom and washed him up as best before changing his filthy clothes and attending to the scratches and abrasions that had occurred. It wasn't until I set him down again to stand that we discovered that he sprained his ankle. That I believe was the only time he got to be in the stroller; usually it was Aaron with Spencer or Emily."

"How did he like the stroller?"

"I think he liked it that day because it was better than trying to walk on his sore leg."

The rest of the afternoon and into early evening the women talked about Derek and the different problems he would create for each of the mommas. The children all found other games and toys to play with.

Soon Aaron came over to momma and climbed into her lap.

"This means I've got hungry children and feed me." He looks up at her and smiles. The women get up and begin to cook a casserole and salad for their children. Aaron sits at the kitchen table watching them and sucking on a bottle of regular milk. It is soon a group of hungry adults and children around the table eating and talking.

The family goes back to the hotel room and momma asks him what they wanted to do while they were there. It is mid-June and they could stay in town for the taste of Chicago which starts in a week or head home.

They remember the year before when they had come to the city and enjoyed themselves and decided to stay for the next week.

Momma calls the institute and asks them to wait on sending the next code through until they return home a few days before the fourth. The director has a big party planned for the fourth and wants them home for the party.

The next week is busy for the family while they go to the navy pier again, the planetarium, Brookfield Zoo and the taste of Chicago.

It is a sun-burnt but happy family that returns to the city and Derek sees the new apartment for the first time. He sees that he will be in the bottom bunk of the new triple bunk. David and Sean are in the bunks above him while Spencer and Aaron are in toddler beds in another room. The older boys' room also has a computer desk with computer and enough room and toys for them around the room. The little boys' room has a small table with stools for play and a bookshelf and big toy box as well as a carpet that has roads and lakes on for play. The girls room has a vanity/desk with a bunk bed and bookshelf and toy box as well as a two large dollhouses each with different types of dolls. Momma chose the smallest room for herself so that there was plenty of space for her children to play in their rooms. There is a living room and dining room and kitchen as well. The little boys' room is actually the room that would have been a den and was created as a bedroom for them.

When they had returned momma called the institute and they begin to choose the next code to send. Who becomes an adult next?


	20. Return of a Woman

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty. A Woman's Return

The pan sizzled when she put the hamburgers in the hot skillet. She turned the fried potatoes with onions in the other skillet and took a spoon to the wok pan where she has vegetables stir frying. She jumped slightly when the hands were felt on her waist and the kisses were started on her neck. She turned slightly and says, "Darling, I am cooking here and I don't want anything to burn. Why don't you get the salad ready for dinner?"

He responds, "I would rather have you for dinner."

"I am not on the menu and our son wants his dinner before we can do anything else."

"It always comes back to his needs."

"We have to sacrifice for our boy."

He groans and turns away to prepare the salad. The pan continued to sizzle as she reached over to turn the potatoes again.

All of a sudden there is a bang, bang, bang on the door. She calls out, "Honey get the door." There continues to be a bang, bang, bang when all of a sudden a sharp light occurs.

Someone is shaking her and calling out her name.

"JJ, wake up. Wake up JJ."

She slowly opens her eyes and groans as she remembers where she is and at who is shaking her.

"Go away Emily, it is too early."

"No, you've gotta get up and look at yourself in the mirror."

"Why, is it going to be any different than yesterday?"

"Yes!"

At that remark, Jennifer looks closer at Emily and says, "Why did you climb the steps to wake me up, you know you are not supposed to come up to the top bunk."

"Get out of bed Jennifer and look at yourself in the mirror."

She groans and says, "Okay, get back down so that I can follow." She is still half asleep when she crawls out of bed and down the steps and does not realize that it seemed to be easier than it had been. She goes over to the mirror and looks at herself and opens her eyes wide when she sees parts of her body that she hasn't seen since Christmas. She squeals and looks over to Emily who squeals too and the two bounce around the room dancing. They both go out of the room down the hall to momma's room and knock on the door excitedly.

When momma opens the door, she smiles widely at the sight.

"Well, I see I have one of my big girls back. Come on in girls." The girls came in with excitement at Jennifer being an adult woman again. Momma goes over to her trunk and gets out a bag with Jennifer's name on it; who with a great smile takes it and goes into the bathroom. While she is in there, Momma gets dressed and with Emily goes to the kitchen to start breakfast. When Jennifer comes in a while later, the boys were in the dining room sitting and drinking their orange juice and their jaws drop at their first sight of her. Derek is the first to get up and give her a hug.

"Welcome back to adulthood JJ."

"Thank you Derek."

"Sit down and eat Jennifer," says momma as she comes in from the kitchen with a platter of pancakes that are immediately grabbed by hungry hands. She makes sure that Aaron has one and that it is in small bite sized pieces ready for him to pick up with his fingers.

"I wasn't completely expecting a change today; I thought they were going to do it next week. Derek, you are heading to the office this morning and I will take the rest of you to the institute. Jennifer, you will have a physical and tests done while the rest can be in the day care or the education room. I want to get it done before the weekend because I want all of you in the best condition for the director's party on the fourth which is Monday."

"Do we have to go to the party?"

"Why do you ask that David, of course you have to go? It will be a little different from last year but you should still enjoy it."

"I just wish I was an adult going not a ten-year-old boy."

"David, you are cute in whatever form you go as."

"Ha Ha,"

Three days later, the family heads to the director's house where they will see Penelope, Chief Strauss and the director waiting for them. They have breakfast together and then get ready to meet the guests that afternoon. The boys once again are dressed in identical clothes of forest green trousers and jacket with a yellow shirt and striped tie. The girls are in ruffled dresses of yellow with forest green bands around the waist, hem, cuffs and neckline. Our adult agents are dressed identically to their younger agents to show that they are one unit of people.

Our people begin to mingle around the yard. Spencer and Emily go running to the play yard so that they don't have to spend too much time with the grown-ups. There are other children there as well.

David and Sean meet up with some other young teens and begin a game of basketball after they take off their suit jackets.

Aaron walks through the throng of legs and feet to head over to the table with the food. It is almost like last year when he went over and the table was too big for him to see over. He decided to look for the kids' food table which is lower and has food more fitted to his taste pallet at this time. He isn't as steady on his feet as he was last year however and fell against someone who looked down and picked up the baby. Aaron still doesn't like to be held by strangers and starts to squirm in the person's arms.

"Be still Aaron, nobody is hurting you. Is there something on the ground that you really want?" He looked up and saw the face of his ex-wife Hailey. He looked at her in disbelief. He had no idea that she had been invited and was there. How did she know it was him?

He asks, "How do you know my name?"

"I should know your name, we were married for many years and yes I know about the case and what has happened to you." He gets slightly upset by this and squirms in her arms once more. "I'm not putting you down so stop squirming."

"Who told you?"

"That I am not going to tell you, you don't need to know that."

"Does Jack know?"

"No, he just knows you as a baby and believes our story that you are still in an undercover assignment and can't talk to him now." While they have been talking, she has been walking with him in her arms and they reach the play area where Jack and other children are playing. Aaron looks over and sees his son playing on the swings. "Why don't you go play with him? You are younger than he is but I think the two of you can play nicely together."

"Do you know that they have reached the microdisk with our adult codes on it and are starting to send them through to the devices on our bodies? Derek became an adult in late May and Jennifer woke up this morning as an adult. Since they don't know which code belongs to which agent; it could be anyone who changes. I wish that I had changed this morning and actually could see my son as his father not a playmate."

"Well, you might not have changed into an adult this morning, but right now you need your pants changed."

"What? How would you know that?"

"I can smell you and I am a mother who has some experience with dirty bottoms."

"I don't want you to do it. I don't like having strangers change me."

"I am not a stranger Aaron."

"Please just find momma and let her change me. Please Hailey." She looks down at her ex-husband and sees so much of their son in his sweet baby face.

"I will try to find her but I am not going to take forever to do it. Five minutes and then I will change you." They leave the play area and search the garden area for momma and then went into the house to find her. But it seems she has disappeared and Hailey goes to the room that had been set up as a nursery for diaper changes and naps for little ones.

"No Hailey, please don't. Let's just keep looking for momma please."

"I said five minutes and gave it ten and we didn't find her."

Aaron screams, "No! Let me go." He yells loudly and with great force.

Hailey is shocked by this behavior from him and struggles to calm him down while he struggles to get out of her arms. She finally puts him down and he runs out of the room and runs right into momma. He looks up with tears running down his face and stops screaming. He lifts his arms to be picked up by her and she just looks at him with mild annoyance. He sniffs and looks at her with watery eyes and she picks him up and heads back into the nursery.

"Hello Hailey, I see he gave you a bit of a problem."

"I didn't expect him to be so vehement against me changing his diaper."

"It's okay. You are not the first he treated this way."

"How did you know that we were here?"

"Someone mentioned that you had him in your arms and were looking for me. I assumed that you would be here. Thank you for taking care of him but I will change him myself. I don't believe it would be right for you to change your ex-husband's diaper. At least not yet." Both women chuckle and talk more as momma changes Aaron and then they head back out to the garden and the play area where she puts Aaron down to play with the other children. Momma notices Jennifer there pushing Henry on the swings and Will was behind her watching.

The two had met up about an hour earlier shortly after the party started.

At the bower in the hall, Jennifer was standing with Penelope talking and sees Will come in with Henry walking beside him. She immediately stopped talking with Penelope and walked over to them. Will looks around and sees her coming. His face registers shock and surprise as well as extreme happiness as he rushes to her. When they met together, there was a great hug and a long luxurious hungering kiss. They broke apart only when Henry said, "Daddy?"

The two look down at him and Will picks Henry up and asks, "Do you remember your mommy, Henry?" Henry looks at her and she smiles at him and says, "Hello Henry." Somewhere in the boy's mind a sliver of memory of a soft sweet voice comes to him and he reaches over to get into her arms. She takes him and hugs and kisses him all over. He remembers the sweet smell of her and snuggles up to her. Will clasps both woman and child in his arms and the family goes into the library to get reacquainted with one another. They would head out to the play area later and spend the day together.

There is another set of eyes watching the children in the play yard and momma notices him standing there watching his son on the teeter totter. She goes over to him and says, "Hi Mr. Reid, why don't you go say hi to him?"

"Hello momma, I don't think that he would want me to do so. He is having fun and I don't want to bother him."

"You wouldn't be bothering him. He did enjoy you when he found out you were here last year. Go try again and enjoy his company, push him on the swing and play with him."

"I doubt he would want that."

"You don't know until you ask." Mr. Reid looked at her and decided to head over and say hi to the boy. When he gets there Spencer looks up at him while he was at the bottom side on the teeter totter.

"Dad, what are doing here?"

"I was invited to see you again. I was told of your problem and decided to come and see it for myself. I hope that it doesn't bother you that I am here."

"Help me get off of here Dad." The man lifts the boy and gently places the other child down on the ground. He holds the boy in his arms and father and son look at each other. Spencer is still angry in many ways that his father had abandoned him so many years ago but he now knows who his father is and they have talked to each other in the past year. Momma would insist upon it when she phoned the father in order for the two to speak. She can be a buttinsky sometimes. He doesn't hug him but the father does hug the boy.

He asks, "Do you want to talk or play?"

"How about pushing me on the swing?" The man smiles and takes the boy to the swings and places him on one. They begin to play together and spent the rest of the afternoon playing.

Momma spent the rest of the afternoon watching her 'children' play in the play yard or on the basketball court. Derek walked around the garden and talked to many of the dignitaries and politicos that were assembled. Penelope spent the day with Kevin in the garden while they also talked with the many guests that the director had invited.

A few weeks after the party, momma and her family are at the courthouse where the judge has been looking over the reports for Derek and Jennifer. The cases were up to determine whether they would be allowed to resume their adult lives and make choices for themselves and their loved ones. The judge has been given many reports from the people they work with, from momma and from the other people in their lives.

The judge speaks, "Derek Morgan, you have been under a scientific experiment that caused you to become a seven to eight year old child for thirteen months. During that time, you were treated as a child. You injured your knee, you were kidnapped and held by a person who attempted to sell you and others and you have lived under the rules and regulations of someone else on a twenty-four basis. Since your return to adulthood, you have gotten yourself in trouble and were held for questioning in a homicide case. However, that accepted as a mistake and you have been doing well at home and in re-establishing your abilities at your job. Because of this and the recommendations of the closest people in your life I am awarding you back your adulthood. You are now considered responsible and able to make all the decisions in your life." He bangs his gavel.

He continues, "Jennifer Jereau LaMontayne, you have been under a scientific experiment that caused you to become an eleven to twelve year old child for thirteen months. During that time, you were treated as a child. You were a great help in taking care of the younger children without forgetting that you were a child yourself. You kept in touch with your husband and child and did your best to maintain that relationship and keep yourself in the loop at your job and in doing your job were able to work well. I am awarding you back your adulthood. You are now considered responsible and able to make all the decisions in your life." He bangs his gavel again.

Our family leaves the courtroom with great joy and jubilation and go out to celebrate at an expensive restaurant where momma had set up a party style atmosphere by inviting many people from the bureau, families and other people in the lives of our people. They drink and have fun as momma watches her young children get more and more tired and her older agents enjoy their adult freedom to drink alcohol. When the restaurant was closing, momma packed up her little ones who had fallen asleep in the restaurant and her adults in the big van. Derek would actually move into one of his houses in August and Jennifer would move in with Will and Henry a few weeks later. But on this day they were still living with the doctor and the rest of the child agents.

At the institute, they begin the process of sending another code through. Who will be the next to grow up?


	21. An Adult Baby

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-One. An Adult Baby

He was uncomfortable sleeping in his bed. He started to twitch and whine about it. He has had someone listening and coming to help him for over a year now and just assumed that someone would come if he whined or began to cry out loud. All of a sudden there was someone there pushing him and telling him to stop. This is weird, why didn't they pick him up? He doesn't want to open his eyes and puts his thumb in his mouth. It was weird too, what was happening? Where was momma and why hasn't she picked him up yet? Someone was pushing him again and telling him to shut up. The voice was young and quiet as if the person didn't want to wake anyone else up. He didn't care because he was uncomfortable and wanted attention paid to it. He struck out and pushed the other person away and cried out, "Momma!" The other person says, "Wake up, you're dreaming or something and you need to wake up now. You need to see what you look like now. Wake up." The other person pushes him again. He says, "Leave me alone, want momma to pick up." The other person says, "The only way momma is going to be able to pick you up is with a forklift." He opens his eyes and looks at the other person, "What are you talking about?" The other person says, "Get up and look at yourself in the mirror?" He looks at him and then decides to do it. He pulls his legs over the edge of his bed and it seems to be much smaller than he is used to it being. He stands up and does not wobble or anything. He walks over to the wardrobe with its mirror on the door and sees what seems to him to be a stranger. There was a person that he hasn't seen in seven months and didn't even believe that he would ever see again. He reached up to his chin and felt hair sprouting from it and looks at his hands which seem large and strong. Looking up again, he reached out to the mirror and expected to fall into it like Alice. He thinks to himself that he must be dreaming and reaches up to slap his face.

Ouch, that stings and tears well up in the eyes of the person looking out at him from the mirror. All of a sudden there are arms around him and momma is there stroking his hair.

"Do you know who that person is?"

"I think so but it seems like he is from a dream or something like that."

"That is the man that you used to be and still are."

"I am a man?"

"Yes, very much so."

He turns around and looks down from his six foot two inch height to her five foot six inch height and says, "I don't feel very comfortable momma."

"Of course you don't, why don't we go to the bathroom and clean you up." He looks at her and nods his head while grabbing her hand and she takes him to her bedroom and gets a bag with his name on it from the trunk. They both head into the bathroom and she strips him down and has him go into the tub of warm water. She gets out the shaving kit and scrapes his face to remove all of the hair on his chin, cheeks and neck.

When they finish and get out of the tub, she dresses him in a pair of disposable underwear and tan slacks and light blue shirt. He wants her to finish up because he is hungry and starts to fidget when she was buttoning up the shirt.

"Stand still so we can finish up here. I know that you are hungry but you need to let me finish dressing you." He looks down at her and bends his head to kiss her on the lips. She responds to the man's kiss as they stand in the bathroom. After the kiss, they look at each other and she smiles shyly as he smiles deeply and stares darkly into her eyes. "You are hungry, right?"

"I want to go eat Becca."

The two leave the room and head to the kitchen where Sean has already started cooking a breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast with jam and juice and milk.

Momma says, "Good morning Sean, thank you for cooking breakfast. Where is everybody else?" Sean did not answer he just stood there and looked at his big brother with a great big smile on his face. Aaron walks over to him and the brothers hug deeply.

Sean says, "I can't believe it, Spencer came running into the boys' room and said that you had come back. I am so thrilled to see you again Aaron."

"It is good to be seen as an adult again."

"Boys, let's get breakfast on the table." They go into the dining room, each with a platter of food. David had the drinks all set up for everybody and smiles widely when he sees Aaron. The two hug and Aaron sits down in the chair that had been placed in his spot. He looked at the food that had been placed in front of him by momma and at the fork and spoon placed near the plate. He remembered how to pick up and hold the fork but it had been a long time since he had. He picked it up and speared a bit of the eggs to bring to his mouth. Half of it spilled off before getting there but it was more difficult when he got to his mouth and began to chew.

"Chew well Aaron." He looked up from his food at momma and looked around at everyone watching him. It has been a long time since he fed himself with a fork and it was something that everyone was curious about in how he would be able to handle it. He put the fork down and picked up the spoon to see if it would be easier for him to eat with. He scooped up some of the potatoes and brought it to his mouth. It was easier than the fork and less of the food fell off the utensil. It was good that he was given food to eat at the day care center and encouraged to feed himself even when he just used his fingers. He picked up the toast and bit off a piece. He chewed carefully before swallowing. It was the glass of orange juice which did him in because when he lifted it, his hand shook a little and then the glass tipped over and spilled all over the table. Everyone jumped up from their seats and Jennifer and Sean went to get towels to clean up the table. Aaron just sat there and looked at it. He wanted to cry because he wanted to show so much that he wasn't that much different than before and that despite being dependent for so long he could still do things. Momma went over to her man and lifted him out of his seat to move him away from the table.

"It is all right Aaron. It will take time to regain strength and ability. You are still a good man." He looks at her as if he wanted to cry but kept the emotions at bay.

"I am hungry Becca."

"I understand." The table was clean now and the others sat back down and finished off their food. They cleared the table except for a plate of food for Aaron since he hasn't eaten much yet. Momma and Aaron sat down and the others left to finish dressing and leave them alone. Momma picked up the spoon and he opened his mouth for her to feed him, which she did not do. She placed the spoon in his hand and guided him to feed himself. Sean brought in a sippy cup with juice and one with milk for Aaron to drink from. The brothers looked at each other and a look of support and love passed between them. Momma patted Sean and smiled gratefully at him and the boy left the two alone again. It took a while but Aaron finally ate and drank enough to leave the dining room and get cleaned up.

The family headed to the institute where Aaron had a physical and was tested once again to determine his cognitive and spatial abilities. The others went to their respective rooms and momma was in the office while Aaron was being tested. An assistant brought Aaron to her office for lunch which she fed him in the same manner that he ate breakfast. After lunch, he returned to take the tests until he got upset and screamed at one of the testers. He went to a corner and curled up because he didn't want to be there. He has had no control over his emotions for over a year and it will take time for him to regain control over them and right now he was tired and wanted to be left alone. The testers called momma to come and check him out.

When she arrives, she walks over to him curled up in the corner.

"Aaron, is everything all right sweetheart?" He looks up and then stands up to hug her.

"I am sorry that I acted so badly. I…I don't know why I did. What has happened to me?

"Nothing has happened to you but you have had a nap after lunch for over a year now and your body has scheduled itself to that. I brought you back for tests after lunch because I had hoped that you would be able to handle it. It is first day back from complete dependence and it will take time to control yourself and your needs. Come on, let us get you cleaned up and rest for a while." He takes her hand and she kisses him after a quick hug. They head back to her office after she lets the technicians know to reschedule the tests for the next day.

In her office, she undresses and cleans him up and then places him on her couch for a nap. After he falls asleep, she heads out of the office and tells her secretary to keep an eye on him for when he wakes up. She goes to check on her children in their respective rooms and lets the head of the rooms that she would be picking them up shortly after naptime. She goes back to her office where Aaron was still sleeping. After he wakes up, she gives a small snack and they head downstairs to get the rest of the family.

At home, it was a fun time with everybody helping to fix dinner and prepare the table for eating. Aaron hasn't had to do any chores since he was too little for anything, however now that he is big again they have set him with Spencer and Emily in getting the table set. That they are giving an easy and simplistic job does not escape his notice and he wonders a little if they really see him as an adult or just a large child. Since the alcohol incident has changed him in many ways he wonders what he really is. His thoughts lead to whether he is capable of working and leading people or if he should just quit and try to do something that does not require him to read or write or use the abilities that he once had. As he works and muses about his future, Spencer is watching him and changing the things that Aaron does because Aaron just sets them without focusing or putting them in the most usable positions. Eventually the table is set and the food prepared and everyone is seated and eating dinner. Momma helps Aaron by guiding and supporting his hand with its spoonful of food. He also drinks from the sippy cup. They want no more liquid all over the table.

After dinner, the family spends the night in the living room either watching television or playing with toys. Aaron seems to be in a quandary because he really doesn't like what is currently on the tv but thinks that he is too big now to play with the toys that he has been comfortable playing with for the past year. He sits on the sofa next to Rebecca and watches her crochet. Her fingers are using the needle quickly to create the afghan that she is currently working on. This does not bother her because she has often been watched while crocheting. Many people find it interesting how quickly the fingers can move with that needle and yarn. Especially since she is also watching the others doing what they are doing and talking with them. She multitasks quite well. The hours quickly go by and she begins to notice little bodies drooping and mouths yawning. It is at this time that she puts away the yarn and gets up to encourage Spencer and Emily to get dressed in their pajamas and go to bed. She will have to wake up Aaron to do so since he fell asleep on her shoulder sitting on the sofa and does so after the other two are in bed.

He says, "Go 'way, sleeping."

"I know but let's go do it in your bed with your pajamas on."

"No, here fine."

"No, it's not, come on Aaron." He just snuggles deeper into the sofa. Derek comes over and tries to encourage the man to get up as well by lifting him up and with the help of Sean and momma he was able to get the man into the little boys' room. Momma has Derek put him on the changing table and has the others go back to the living room while she changed his disposable underwear and put a pair of pajamas on him. He has wakened enough to get off the table and walk to his bed where she tucks him in. He curls up with his thumb in his mouth and falls back to sleep.

The others go to bed soon thereafter.

The next few weeks are similar with Derek and Jennifer getting ready to move out and the others either working at Quantico or being at the institute during the day and the nights are family time. Momma works and Aaron spends the day with her in her office and works on his reading exercises. He continues to have difficulty adjusting to a more adult schedule so he still takes a nap on the doctor's office couch after lunch. It is at this time that the director comes to see her. He looks at the sleeping man on the couch.

"Hello Rebecca."

"Hello Director."

Looking over at Aaron he asks, "Is there any chance that I will ever get my agent back?"

"I am not sure that I understand the question. Could you clarify it for me?"

"I saw his test results and I don't see my agent in them."

"As you know the alcohol incident caused some brain damage. It took away his ability to read, write and do simple arithmetic, but these are learned abilities not inert or what makes a person. They do determine who you are or what you can do. They can be relearned."

"Can they? What is the time frame that we are looking at here?"

"Time frame is unknown. It could be six weeks, six months or six years. There is no way to tell how soon Aaron can learn what he needs to know. We need to remember that adults learn in a different than children do and Aaron will have to now learn as an adult. There is no way of knowing how long it could take."

"Right now he is as capable as a mentally disabled person and I need him mentally able. I would like to put him in a rehabilitative facility which may be able to help him better than you could."

"You want to institutionalize him and take him away from his brother and the people who care about him. This is a man who took the most difficult position in our experiment: a position of dependence and need for others to take care of him. We didn't expect the problems with the machine which cost him even more by making him younger and more dependent. He suffered an accident when given alcohol which hurt him. He has struggled to keep his identity of being an adult in a baby's body and you want to tell him now that it doesn't matter because you can't see him as an adult now. Being able to read, write, add and subtract make someone an adult and since he can't do that you want to just shut him away to protect what? The bureau, yourself, the experiment, what? We have to ask this man to sacrifice more of his identity and self-worth for that. I don't think that it is a good idea for you to institutionalize him but I don't have a say in it, do I? You have already made your decision and can take control at any time."

"Yes Doctor I can and I believe that it would be best for him. I have already been discussing it with a facility and they will be ready for him soon."

"I'll have him ready when you want to pick him up. Good bye director." He stands up.

"Good bye doctor."

For the next thirty minutes, she sits in the chair remembering the man and the baby that Aaron had been for the past 15 months. She doesn't see anything through the film of tears in her eyes as she tries to formulate the conversation with him and with Sean about what the director wants to do. She wipes her eyes when she hears him begin to move and wake up. Rising from her chair she goes over to him and sits on the coffee table in front of the couch and smiles at him when he opens his eyes. He smiles back at her and gets up. She changes his disposable underwear at the large credenza turned into a changing table and then has a snack with him. After the snack, she takes him to the education room where they pick up Sean and then the daycare where they pick up Emily. David and Spencer are in Quantico today. They go home.


	22. Good Bye

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Two. Good Bye

Two weeks later and momma is going around in a bad mood. She is unhappy and moody and continually weepy. It is a bad day when she decides to keep all of her children home. Derek and Jennifer had moved out two days earlier so she only has her four under thirteen and Aaron. It is early afternoon and Aaron, Spencer and Emily are napping while Sean is in the big boys' room playing a computer game at the desk computer. Momma is folding clean clothes when David comes in to talk with her.

"Momma, what is happening? You have been very moody for the past few weeks and that is unusual for you."

"I am fine David." She says this with slightly shaking hands and a very depressed emotional state. He grabs her hands.

"You are not fine. Talk to me momma please. Maybe I can help." She looks at this ten-year-old child talking to her and hugs him.

"Thank you for your concern but there isn't anything that you can do to help. The director has made a decision that I don't agree with but am powerless to prevent being done. It is just hard to have to deal with and it will be very hard on the person involved."

"A decision about whom? What don't you like about it? Please talk to me about it maybe I can talk with the director to change it."

"I don't think you can change his mind but he wants to send Aaron away. He doesn't believe that I or the team family can help him relearn his lost abilities and wants to send him to a rehabilitation center which might be able to do it."

"He wants to put Hotch away?"

"Yes and the people could come at any time to take him. I am just a little upset by it. I am sorry that I have made you and the others worry. There is nothing that can be done to stop it from happening."

They hear another voice, "Who are they and who is being taken away?" Momma looks up and sees Sean standing there.

"Aaron's boss feels that a rehabilitation center might help him learn better and regain his abilities so he is setting up for him to be moved. They will be coming to get Aaron at any time."

"You're sending Aaron away?"

"I am not sending him anywhere but the director is taking him away."

"They can't do that. He's not disabled or in need of rehabilitation. He just needs to learn to read and write again and we can teach him that here and at the institute. He doesn't have to go anywhere else." Sean is crying as he says this. Momma walks over to him.

"I believe that too but the director doesn't feel that way and he has the rights to take him away. Aaron gave him that in the contract he signed at the beginning of this experiment." She is crying as well and reaches out to hold the boy but he pushes her away and runs back to his room and closes the door. David has been watching the two and comes over to her and hugs her.

"I know it is not your fault and I wish I could convince Sean that it is not his fault but he feels so guilty already about what he did with the alcohol. This is not going to be good and he will feel extremely guiltier. We are going to have to keep an eye on him so that he doesn't do anything foolish."

She looks down and hugs him again.

"Go and be with him in your room."

Momma continues to fold and then begins to put away the clothes in the different rooms. Emily wakes up and helps her out for which momma is grateful.

In the boys' room, David says, "Sean…" He is at a loss as to what to say to the boy. He wants him feel less guilty but also knows that is only going to happen over time."

"They need to change me back to an adult. I need to be the next one to change. When are they doing again, do you know?"

"They did it last night."

"But nobody changed, you and I are the same and Emily and Spencer are the same, how can they have done it last night?"

"Penelope went back to being her normal age."

"Great, the one who really didn't need to change back because she was still an adult, albeit a young one. I need to change back. I can stop the director from putting Aaron away in institution."

"You could do that?"

"I am his biological brother and if I was my normal age I could sue for custody and take care of him. I would be able to do that better than any institute."

"That is true; you could sue for custody of him and be able to teach him."

"It isn't right David. This shouldn't have happened to him. I did this to him and now he is being punished more for what I did."

"Who is being punished?" Both boys turn toward the door and see Aaron. Who asks again, "Who is being punished?" The boys look at each other. "Answer me. Sean?"

"You are being punished more."

"Who is punishing me?"

"The director is doing it."

"What are you talking about? What is he doing?"

"He doesn't think that living with us is good for you and wants to put you away somewhere."

"David, what is he talking about?"

"The director wants his agent back. He wants you to be able to read and do the things that you were able to do and in some ways can still do but there are the other things that you need to re-learn and he doesn't think that you are doing that here. He wants you to go live in a rehabilitation center to re-learn these things."

"What does Rebecca say about it?"

"She doesn't want you to go but can't fight it. The director has the ultimate control over us until the device is off our wrists and we are able to take care of ourselves again."

"Then we need to take the device off and I can stay here."

"You can't take care of yourself Aaron and legally would not be allowed to make that decision right now."

"But I don't want to go anywhere." The man's eyes begin to fill with unshed tears. He yells out, "Rebecca!" He heads to the living room where he thinks she might be. She comes running from the girls' room to the living room.

"Aaron, sweetheart what is it?"

"Is it true? Is the director taking me away from you because I can't read and stuff?"

She looks at him looking anguished and quietly says, "Yes. People could come at anytime to take you away. I didn't know how to tell you and it kills me that he is doing this. I have wracked my brain and the legal papers to see a way out of doing this but I haven't found a way out. I am so sorry sweetheart."

He looks at her and says, "I don't want to go anywhere. You help me more than anybody could. You encourage me and make me do things for myself. It will take time but I couldn't learn better anywhere else." With tears running down the faces of the man and woman, they fall into each others' arms and hug tightly. They don't break apart even when many other hands wrap around the two. It is after several minutes when the people separate and the adults look around to see all four of the young people around them. Supporting each other is important and this is a group of people who show that they care for each other.

The home phone rings breaking the family out of their stupor and David went to answer it. He hands it to momma and she takes it and listens to the person on the other end. She answers yes or no to different questions and the others just watch her as they only hear her side of the conversation. She finally says good bye and hangs up. It takes a minute before she is able to look at the ten eyes staring at her.

"They will be here tomorrow morning. I need to have you ready to go."

"I don't want to go."

"You don't have a choice and you must go with them tomorrow. Only the director can release you from the place and allow you to come home. Right now, you just woke up from your nap and need to be cleaned up and the snack is ready for everybody. Let's try to have a good last night together. Spencer, how was your nap? Did you wake up dry today?"

She bends down and talks to him face to face; he looks at her and slightly lowers his head when he says, "No."

"I don't understand, you were doing well but for the past few weeks you have been waking up wet in the morning and at nap. Is there something wrong?"

He looks at her and shakes his head no. He just looks at her and she comes to a realization.

"Is it me? Are you having bad dreams because of the way that I have been acting?" He looks at her with tears in his eyes. "Sweetheart, no matter what happens, I will not abandon you. You will always be with me unless you get big again and decide to move out and live on your own. As long as you are a little boy you will be with me. Don't be afraid of that. I lose control of you when you get big again, but as long as you are little I have full control. You don't need to be afraid or have bad dreams like that. No matter how I act, you will be with me as long as you are still little." He gives her a watery smile and hugs her deeply.

Sean says, "Momma, why don't you clean up Aaron and I will clean up Spencer?" Spencer looks up at him and then at her, he takes Sean's hand and they walk to the bathroom. Aaron takes her hand and they go to the little boy's room.

David and Emily go and get the snacks out and after the boys are clean up they sit as a family having cupcakes and milk.

The next morning, nobody wanted to leave because they wanted to say good-bye to Aaron. The rest of the team arrives early to say good bye and there is a great deal of happiness that Penelope is now her age. It was a melancholy painful time for all of the members of the family. At 10:00, a knock on the door was heard.

Spencer says, "Why don't we just ignore it and maybe they will go away."

Aaron responds, "We can't do that. I have to take responsibility for what I did when I signed the paper and allowed the director to make this choice. I have to do it and yours and my wants are not important here. We have to do what the director thinks is best for my needs and this is it."

The others come over and hug him tightly as momma opens the door to the director and the people from the institute.

"Come in director, ladies and gentleman."

"Good morning Rebecca. Is Aaron ready?"

"Yes, he's saying goodbye to the others."

"You do understand why I am doing this?"

"No, I don't and if you really were thinking of his needs then you would know that this is wrong."

Aaron comes in the hall.

"Hello director, I am ready to go." He kisses Rebecca and wipes the tears from her eyes. One of the people with them takes the suitcase sitting in the hall and Aaron follows the director and them out of the apartment. The rest of the family stand there crying outwardly or with just tears in their eyes.

Sean says, "I am going to get him out of there."


	23. The Visit

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Three. Visiting

It has been thirty days finally and Aaron is allowed visitors. Sean and the family are planning to go later that afternoon when momma goes into the big boys' room to talk with him.

"Sean, I know that you are anxious to become an adult again and be able to sue for guardianship and custody of Aaron. I need you to think about it a great deal."

"I have been thinking about it. In fact, that's all I have been thinking about."

"So you know what you need to do in order for you to get custody?"

"What do you mean?" He looks at her questioningly and with a little trepidation at what she might mean.

"To get custody, you will have to prove that you can take care of him."

"I can take care of him. I can help him learn and become more independent again."

"How?"

"Well, I will spend the days with him with games and learning tools."

"What about finances?"

"What?"

"How will you be able to take care of him financially? It will take time before he will be able to work and what about you working? When you work all day then what is Aaron going to be doing? At this time he needs to be reminded to use the toilet, he still spills his food and needs help in strengthening his hands. His mind remembers but his body needs to have strengthening exercises and help in doing things. When you are working who is taking care of him?"

"I haven't thought like that. I guess I'll have to hire someone to come in and do that while I work."

"Will you make enough money to be able to afford that?"

"I don't know. Why are you asking me these things? Don't you want Aaron out of that place and with people who care about him?"

"Of course I do. I just want you to think and plan for taking care of him because the courts will want to know these things. You also need to realize that you might not be able to sue for him. If you don't change back into an adult, remember one of you won't, what will you do then?"

He looks at her with tears in his eyes and says, "I have to change back and get custody of him. I need my brother home. I need to know that he is getting the best care and love that he needs. I have to be able to see him whenever I want to. I have to change momma. Isn't there some way that you can know if I will be able to change?"

"No there isn't. It is just a crap shoot as to who will change and the inevitability that one of you will not. What if it is you? How will you feel about that if you cannot or are not given the custody of Aaron?"

"I don't want to think like that. I need to have hope that it will work out and I will be able to get him."

She sweeps his hair out of his eyes and hugs him before leaving the room.

Around 3:00 pm that afternoon, they arrive at the center that the director has had Aaron confined to.

Momma and the family go to the main desk to ask about where he is and are told to wait that he had just awakened from his nap and they need to take care of his feeding him his snack and cleaning him after before anyone will be allowed to see him.

They listen to the director say this and are confused by it. Aren't they supposed to be teaching him to do things for himself? What is going on here?

After a short while they are allowed to go visit him in his room and he is sitting in a chair by a table in the room. The room has a bed with rails all along the length of both sides, a flat table that was attached to the wall and could be folded up to the wall. There is one other chair by the table. When Aaron sees them come in he smiles and gets up from the chair. Sean and he hug and then he hugs Rebecca and the rest of the team and family that is there.

Sean asks, "How are you doing?"

Aaron answers, "I am doing fine Sean. How are you doing? I have missed seeing you every day.

"I have missed you too."

Spencer comes over and hugs Aaron and asks, "Are you happy here?"

"As happy as I can be without seeing you every day." The boy blushes and lowers his head in shy happiness. Aaron opens his arms and Spencer gets in his lap and starts to talk about what he did in the month that Aaron was in the place.

The others stand around listening to the chattering boy and look around at the room. They begin to think about what they can do to make the room a little more personable and nice to live in. It is stark and boring without any personality like any institute room. Momma opened up the bag that she brought. The first things that she brought out to show to Aaron were many pieces of artwork all signed by Jack. Penelope got the tape out to put them on the wall.

She brought out empty pieces of paper and drawing utensils for Aaron to work on with the alphabet stencils and other stencils to work with. She then takes out toys for him to occupy himself with.

Derek looks at these things and says, "Why all the toys? He isn't a child anymore."

"They help with dexterity and strength so that he can improve and strengthen his hands and arms. This ball is squeezable and that can make the muscles stronger and help him be able to feed and do things for himself. As for the cars and trucks, well they also work with the hands and arms for strength. They also can help with boredom. He does need things to do. We don't know what they provide and I don't want him watching television all day."

"I see, you are continuing to think about our needs and anticipating provisions for them."

"I do try sweetheart. I do try."

They look back at the man who now has Emily and Spencer sitting on his lap and talking animatedly with him. They each smile in their ways at the adorableness of the sight.

After a half hour or so, momma takes the family out except for Sean. She wants the Hotchner boys to have some time alone. Aaron smiles gratefully at her.

"Sean we need to talk. I know that you are not happy about this situation but I don't want you to fight it."

"What! What do you mean by not fight it? You don't belong here. You belong at home with Rebecca and me. You belong somewhere where you can see Jack every now and then. That place is not here."

"Sean, when our unit agreed to this experiment we signed a contract saying that if anything should happen and we are not able to perform our duties after the experiment then the director has the right to determine what happens to us. It is his right to put me here and to leave me here until I die as I am not currently able to perform my duties at the bureau. This is legal and fighting it would be expensive and futile as well as could take years to accomplish. Even though you are biologically related and the closest relative to me because of the clause in the contract I would still be under the director's guardianship. The only way that would not be true is if I went back to being a child and then the guardianship would revert back to Rebecca. Being my closest relative is not going to change that. I signed the contract and it is legally binding." Sean begins to tear up as he listens to Aaron.

"But you don't belong here. This is not where you should be."

"We don't have a choice. I made that decision already and when I signed the contract nobody expected something like this could happen."

"Isn't there anything that I can do?"

"Just come and visit as often as possible."

"That is a promise." The brothers hug tightly.

"Could you ask momma to come in and see me?"

"Sure and I will come back as soon as I am allowed to do so."

The boy leaves and tells momma that Aaron wanted to see her. Momma goes back into the room and Aaron is looking out the window waiting for her. She comes up behind him and puts her arms around him and squeezes as tightly as possible. She believes that she knows what is going to say and ask and it kills her inside because she will have to tell him something that he won't like to hear and wants to have this last chance to hold him in her arms.

"Hello Rebecca, that feels good. It is amazing how much you miss the warmth and strength of the arms of a woman. She kisses his neck and he turns to look at her and presses his lips on hers. The man and woman just revel in the arms of each other for a short while. Finally Rebecca pulls away.

"Sean said that you wanted to see me. What can I do for you?"

"You know that I am here because of what the director wants. They want to get rid of me and destroy my career. It is the reason they chose our unit. They wanted to destroy me. I will spend the rest of my life here away from my brother, my son and you. The only choice I have to get out of here is to be a child again. Then I would once again be under your guardianship. We could take the device off and you could become my mother and raise me to adulthood again."

As Aaron talks to her, she puts a hard mask on her face as if to show him that what he says does not matter to her.

She answers, "Why would I want to do that?

"Because you care about me and want me home too."

"I am a very good actress. For over a year now I have been acting like someone who cares about you and your team. Let me tell you a little more about myself. Have you seen the move 'Scrooge'; a musical of the musical carol made in the 'seventies'??"

"Yes, a few times."

"That movie has a song in it that reflects me. The song is called 'I Hate People'. All of my life I lived alone. I didn't even have an animal to keep me company. I worked with machines and people who learned to not get too close. I didn't care about them or anyone else. The desire to educate their children and provide daycare was because I wanted my employees to spend as much of the day working and not having to travel to take care of their children. The medical personnel were provided for the same reason. They didn't have take off time from work to do things. But I still did not open my heart or my life to anyone else. Until I became your unit's momma, I actually wasn't going to do so but changed my mind. I made a deal with the director and some of his political friends. You stepped on some toes and they wanted you gone from your job and your ambitions of leading the agency one day. They provided all of the financial needs of this experiment and continue to do so. The grant they gave is large enough to give years of employment to myself and institute. The cost to us was providing for you and destroying your career and life; your team is collateral damage to that. It is a shame that one of them won't return to adulthood because I don't want them in my life. So once we discover who it is, they will be entering the social services system. I have no intention of raising you or anyone else. The past year has been a nightmare for me in having this little person running around and grabbing at me at all times. I am tired of having no time for me and having this clinging child around all the time. Why would I want that back? I am looking forward to losing all of my children because I don't like people around me twenty-four hours a day unless they are working for me. So the answer to you is no."

She finishes what she was saying and looks at him. He can say and do nothing as he looks at her with a broken heart and great sorrow at what she has said. That she doesn't love him and he will never leave this place again. She has a face of stone and he looks at it with tears building up and slowly falling down his face.

That is what she sees as she leaves the room and he realizes that he now all alone in the world.


	24. Rescuing the Boss

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Four. Rescuing the Boss

She walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. After entering the room she locks the door and looks at herself in the mirror.

"You lying bitch. You know that the past year has been the best year of your life and that the people who entered your life at that time have given it meaning and made it special. You know that you love that person that you just hurt so badly. You know that you want him in your life forever. Now you lie to him and tell him that you don't want him. You know why. You have to choose and sacrifice so that 117 people can have jobs and be able to take care of their families. You have to sacrifice that man and your own happiness for them. You hate politics."

She wipes her eyes and leaves the room to head back to her children and they leave for the night.

The next morning

He wakes up and stretches scratches his face and feels something weird; something that he hasn't felt in a long time. He crawls out of bed and goes over to the wardrobe with the mirror on it. He sees a face with a scraggly looking beard and mustache on a large head attached to his adult body. He strips down and checks out his body as he sees parts that have grown since the night before. He puts his robe on and goes down to momma's room and knocks on the door.

She opens the door to find him smiling there.

"Good morning momma, can I come in?"

"Come on in." She goes to her trunk and gets out the bag with his name on it. "I'll see you in the dining room. It is good to see your handsome face."

"Thank you and I will try to make it even more handsome when I shape my beard."

She chuckles and pats his face.

He gets to the dining room and gets the traditional welcome back's from all except Sean who was hoping that he would have been next. Sean is happy for the man but envious and jealous none the less. Momma goes over to him and hugs the boy and says, "Maybe next time."

The next few weeks are busy for everyone. It seems that many of the people who are at the institute have been finding new jobs and are leaving. Rebecca is at a loss until Ross comes to her and explains that they believe that the place should shut down. The implications of the machine is that it can be abused by people who want to use it as more of a fountain of youth and the main technicians and scientists who created it don't want it used like that.

"Ross, you knew that when we began to build it over ten years ago."

"I know, but it is different now."

"Ross, you are lying to me. We have known each other and worked together since you came in my door as an undergraduate assistant technician at the age of seventeen. What is up?"

"We don't want the old Rebecca back."

"What?!?"

"Most of the employees working here have been here for more than five years and half for more than ten years and all of us have seen you glowing in the past year. You have changed and looking better and acting kinder in the past year than you have ever done since I met you. I want you to stay this way and to do that we need to shut down the institute."

"Why would that happen?"

"The last thing that I plan to do ma'am before I leave is return the person that changed you back to what he needs to be so that you are happy again."

"Are you saying that I am not happy now?"

"You are miserable."

"That is nonsense because I still have three wonderful children to take care of and love. I don't need my baby man."

"Yes you do and I know the deal that you made. I know that you are sacrificing him and your happiness so that we have jobs and are able to take care of our families. The people here would rather have new jobs than allow you to do that. Most of us will be gone before the holidays. The few that are left are those essential people to finish up with returning the people to their normal selves and then destroying the machine. It will be done by January 1st. We will not move into the New Year as a company. I hope that's not a problem for you."

"And if it was."

"We still will do it even though you hold the majority of votes and stock; we do have a say in how the company works."

Rebecca gets up from her chair and goes around the desk to the man who then stands up to face her. She says, "Thank You" and hugs him before walking out the door to see the empty offices and rooms. She goes to the FBI building downtown and to the director's office. He is in a meeting when she arrives and tells his administrative officer to have him contact her when he can. She leaves the building and returns to the institute building and sets up a meeting with the remainder of her employees to discuss the dissolution of the institute.

She leaves early that afternoon with her three children while David is at work. He is still with her until his court date which is in another three weeks. The family heads to the institution to see Aaron.

When they arrive, Aaron is in the day room and momma has Spencer and Emily go and visit with him while she and Sean go to his room. She has decided that she is taking her man home tonight and begins to pack up his room. The institutions director is not told anything because she is just taking him out to dinner. There is a stipulation in his entry papers that he allowed to do that once a month. Tonight is that time. Of course, she has no intention of returning him. After packing up everything in his room, Sean takes the bags down to the car and momma goes to the day room to get her little ones (all three?).

She stands in the door and watches as Aaron and the little ones are playing. He has her back to him and the others don't betray that she is there. She walks up to him and puts her arms around him. He stiffens up and looks around. He is still unsure of her now. She hasn't come to see him since she told him her lie about not loving him.

She says, "I'm sorry. I had to choose between our happiness and the lives of my employees and their families. I felt it was better to sacrifice two people lives for a few hundred people's lives. They disagreed and have made other choices for themselves. The institute is closing because they believe that I should be happy. The only way that can happen is if you are with me. Please forgive me for my lie several weeks ago. You are more important than anything else." He looks at her as she was talking and kissed her when she finished.

"I am sorry too that we can't be together."

"Why not?"

"You don't want me as a baby and I have to stay here as a man."

"Tonight you are a man; tomorrow if you want you can be a baby." He opens his eyes wider and smiles as he then kisses her again. The man and woman are interrupted then by Spencer and Emily coming over to remind them of where they are and that it is time to go to dinner.

Spencer says, "Momma, I am hungry."

"Me too," says Emily.

She responds, "Let's go out to dinner then. Lead the way to the door."

They run ahead while Rebecca takes Aaron's hand and they follow the children. They walk past the front desk where the institute's director is waiting for them.

"I am taking him to dinner tonight as stated in his entry papers."

"When will you return him? Lights out is at 9 pm."

"We will be back before then. Good night."

In the parking lot, Aaron and Sean hug and get into the vehicle with Spencer and Emily. Momma heads out and they stop by a restaurant for dinner. After dinner they head back to the apartment where David is waiting and is thrilled at seeing Aaron as well.

Momma says, "All right, I want everybody to go to their rooms and take everything that want more than anything else. We are leaving her tonight and won't be coming back. Whatever is left the director will be probably confiscate and get rid of. What you want has to go with us tonight." After saying this she heads to her room and gets the large duffel bag suitcase that she bought and begins to fill it with the memories of her life that she has. The photo albums, gifts from her children and some clothes as well as packing up the one Christmas present that she still has from the year before. It was the only of Aaron's gifts that she saved from the fire. As you may remember, he didn't open his gifts. This one she saved because it was the one given to him from Hailey and Jack. He has never looked at who gave what gift and so doesn't know that it was from Jack. After packing she heads back to the living room where Spencer and Emily had brought what they wanted to keep most of all. She packed their stuff into the duffle and then went through the living room, kitchen, dining room and bathroom to take other essentials and things. Sean and David each have their own suitcases which are being filled. Anything that Aaron wants is also packed up.

The family takes everything down to the car and packs it up with the suitcases.

"David, would you please drive?"

"Yes Rebecca."

She makes sure that everyone else is buckled in and gets in. They head away from the apartment at ten minutes to nine but are not heading to the institute.

"Before we leave I need to let you know that it is possible that the director will shut down the machine before they can send another code through. Is that acceptable to those of you who have not changed back into adults? If not, then we cannot do this. We will return Aaron to the institution and go back to the apartment. Please let me know now."

The people in the car think quietly and solemnly as they think about the consequences of this action and that they may be the way they are for the rest of their lives.

Spencer speaks up and says, "Let's go Rossi. Anywhere is better than where Hotch was."

Emily says, "I agree, let's go."

Aaron says, "What about you Sean? Is this acceptable for you?"

He answers, "As long as you are safe and we are together, we can accomplish anything. Drive Dave."


	25. Feeling Like A Man

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Five. Feeling like a Man

David drove for several hours before stopping at a roadside motel where they got two rooms adjoining with one another. It was going to be the males in one room and momma and Emily in the other unless someone objects.

"I object." Everyone else looks at him.

"What do you object to Aaron?" asks David, "It's a good solution."

"I know it's the reasonable and logical solution but the director might have Ross change me back into a small child again tonight."

"Yeah, that's a possibility but …"

"If tonight is going to be my last night as an adult man, I would like to spend it feeling and acting like one. I would like to spend the night with you Rebecca. I want to have you in my arms and feeling you around me and me inside of you. Rebecca let me make love to you tonight as a man."

She looks at him in surprise and there was slight uncertainty in her countenance although inside she felt giddy and excited at the prospect of this wonderful man inside of her.

"Well, that's up to Emily and if she wants to sleep in the boys room."

Aaron and the other 'boys' look at the little girl currently sleeping in her booster seat oblivious to what is being said around her. David chuckles and says, "I don't think that it will bother her. We can put her and Spencer in one bed and Sean and I will take the other bed."

"All right, then let's get in and ready for bed." Momma picks up Spencer who is also sleeping while Aaron picked up Emily and David pulled out the luggage and Sean went to open the door. They go into the boys' room first and put the sleeping children on the bed but momma got their pajamas out and on them before tucking them under the covers of the bed. Sean went into the bathroom and changed into his pajamas before getting into the other bed. David went with Aaron into the other room and helped him prepare for bed. After fifteen minutes, Rebecca goes into the room and sees her man in bed naked from the waist up and the bottom covered by the blanket. She kissed David on the cheek and he went into the other room.

"Good night 'momma', have fun tonight."

"Good night and don't stay up too late, you will be driving again tomorrow."

She looks back at Aaron and stripped down before getting into bed with him. The night was long and yet too short for these lovers.

Before long it seemed the sunlight was trying to stream in from the window.

Spencer came running into the room before anyone could stop him and stopped when he saw the two sleeping in the bed. It was obvious to him as an adult in a child's body what had happened and instead of being embarrassed by seeing it he instead went to jump on the bed.

"Wake up momma, I am hungry." She sleepily opens her eyes and looks at this little boy sitting on her.

Before she could say anything Aaron says, "Spencer, you don't come jumping in on momma like that. You could hurt her. Go back in the other room and get dressed. We will get breakfast after everybody is dressed."

Spencer looks at the man and hangs his head as he gets down off the bed. He leaves the room and David is there with an outfit for him to put on.

"You didn't have to talk to him like that Aaron. He was just playing at being a little boy." She gets out of bed and begins to dress and do her morning ablutions. He gets out and goes to the bathroom and then dresses in the clothes that she has laid out for him. She buttons his trousers and shirt because he doesn't have the dexterity in his hands to do the job yet.

They go into the other room and see a sight of mild chaos. It seems Emily doesn't like any of the clothes that David has found in the suitcase for her to wear and he keeps looking for others while she keeps refusing outfit after outfit. Momma goes and picks up an outfit and hands it to her. Emily looks at her and is about to shake her head no when she looked at momma's stern no nonsense visage. She took the clothes and went into the bathroom to put them on her body.

"David, you just give her an outfit. You do not give her much of a choice. Please get this all repacked so that we can go. Like Spencer said, I am hungry." There was a flurry of activity as the bags were packed and taken to the car and the family headed to a restaurant for breakfast. They then had to discuss where they would be going. Is there any place that they could go where the director could not get at Aaron? The fact that he hadn't changed was encouraging but they also know that it could happen at any time.

Except that momma knows that it will be at least seven days before it will occur. If you have noticed, each month a new code was sent through and one code was sent. The main machine has a fail-safe that prevents usage again for 28 days after it is used. It can send several at one time but can only be used every 28 days. So Aaron is safe for another week before the machine can be used again. However, she didn't tell this because she wanted to enjoy her man as much as she can. Because he could change although she hopes that the director isn't that petty.

One month later, our little band is still traveling place to place every few days. They do stay in one place for a few days and then move on. There has been no changing of people. It is the week of Thanksgiving and they decide to stay all week in the motel they are at. They are in a small city in the state of Missouri, about an hour outside of St. Louis.

During this week, she calls Ross at the institute.

"Hello Ross."

"Rebecca! Finally you call. You can't imagine the chaos your disappearance has caused with the director. He is not a happy man with you taking Aaron and leaving like that."

"What has he done?"

"Well, the first thing he did was go to your apartment and packed up everything. I don't know what he did with it but everything is gone."

"Yes, I expected that. What else?"

"He wants me to change Aaron back. As you know the machine has been ready for three weeks to send a code through, but I won't send it and have locked everyone else out in being able to send a code through. He isn't happy about it but so far he hasn't badly threatened me to do it. There is some good news in that I think we found the missing code."

"Found it, how?"

"I think that it got stuck in another chip in the machine. We are currently going through the chips and checking and it looks promising."

"I want you to send a code through, but not Aarons."

"The director will not be happy if I do that."

"I don't care just do it anyway. Aaron is doing well and I have high hopes for him in the next month or so. I want everyone changed before the end of the year if possible."

"We can't do everyone there is only five weeks left in the year."

"If you send one through thanksgiving night and the other one that we know we have in four weeks that should be good. Keep checking for the eighth code, it is a good idea that it might be in another chip. We hadn't thought about that previously. I will call you later about who changed. Do it Ross.

"Yes ma'am."

The call ends and then Rebecca calls Hailey and has Aaron talk to Jack for a while.

They spend Thanksgiving Day at a restaurant and each has their own type of meal. Rebecca has not told them that someone will be changing just in case Ross is unable to send the code. She does not want them to get their hopes up. Everyone will just have to wait and see.


	26. Return of the Agents

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Six. Christmas

"Momma, I'm hungry."

"Spencer, you are always hungry. You have a bottomless stomach and a hollow leg, all six feet of you. You will have to wait until David decides to stop somewhere."

"But I am hungry," he whines, "Don't you have anything in one your bags; usually you are so good at providing that stuff."

She sighs and says, "There are crackers in the blue bag."

"But you can't have those Spencer."

"Why not Aaron?"

"Those are mommas; you know she has had the flu and the crackers help calm her stomach."

"But I'm hungry."

"Spencer, you can have my crackers."

"Thank you momma." He reaches down to get the bag and Aaron puts his hand down and looks at Spencer with his fiercest scowl. Spencer just smiles and grabs the bag. He opens the bag and eats a handful of crackers.

It is now one week before Christmas but Spencer was so thrilled on the day after Thanksgiving when he woke up with hair on his face and other parts of his body that hadn't had hair on it for almost two years. He jumped out of the bed that he shared with Emily and ran to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror.

"Yippee! Everybody wake up." He runs into the room where he has wakened everyone up. There are exclamations of wonder and happiness for the man who was a boy. Momma and Aaron came in from the other room and she smiles widely while Aaron congratulates him on being the next adult to return.

She says, "You will have to say thank you to Ross for doing what I asked. We will be sending the seventh code through in 28 days.

"Twenty-eight days?"

"Yes, it takes that the big machine to recalibrate and be able to be used again. It is a safety precaution."

"Has is always been like that?"

"Yes, so you have always known when the next is should have been done."

"Yes."

"Do you know who will be next?"

"It will probably be Emily from the main disk. Ross believes that Sean's code never went on that disk but is instead on another disk in the machine. They are currently looking for it."

"So everyone is likely to return to the adult selves."

"Yes, this is good news."

"Then I guess you won't have to worry about having us in your life much longer."

"I guess." At this moment she turns and goes back into her room and goes over to the large duffel bag that she has packed up her things in. She opens it and takes out a bag that has Spencer's name on it and brings it back to the other room where she hands it to him. As usual, she has anticipated and prepared for this by bringing the bags for each of her children. She goes back to her room and goes into the bathroom in there and locks the door. She looks at herself in the mirror and struggles to keep the tears from her eyes as she remembers the conversation. She just hadn't consciously realized that once all the codes are through she would lose the 'family' that she has come to love. The realization hurts more than anything in the world as she has come to love each and every one of the people who entered her life and gave it meaning. She will miss them when this was finally over and she thinks maybe she did get too close because she will miss them immensely.

End Flashback

It is two days before Christmas and three days before the next code and they are at a different motel and she bends over the toilet as she got sick again from the flu that she has been fighting.

Aaron calls through the door, "Rebecca are you okay darling?"

She answers. "Just the stomach flu again but I am taking some medications and that should help. What did you and everyone else decide on what you wanted to do about Christmas?"

"I'll tell you when you come out."

"It shouldn't be long."

She leaves the bathroom and sees her 'family' before her; there are three adult men, one teenage boy and one little girl standing there.

"What have you decided for Christmas."

"We just are going to have dinner here at the motel and maybe exchange gifts that we buy for each other if you want to go to the mall. I don't think Santa Claus will find us this year."

"No I don't suppose that, but I don't think that he is looking either. Do you want to go to the mall then?"

"Yes, there is one not too far from where we are now."

"Have fun then. I am not going."

Aaron looks at her with more concern and walks to her. She takes her man by the hand and says, "I am just tired and want to some time alone; alright darling. Why don't you use the bathroom before you leave and if while out you do feel the need please let David know and get to a bathroom quickly."

"I am trying very hard to do those things. I have only had one accident in the past week."

"I know, but I want you in boxers before New Year's Day. I have made a vow to that effect and you need to make it happen." He smiles and kisses her.

"We shall see you in a few hours."

"Remember that Emily will probably be changing into an adult female in a few days. Get her appropriate gifts to that effect. If you get tired, come back. David doesn't need to deal with whiny adults." He kisses her again and turns to use go into the bathroom and the others wait before getting coats on and heading to the mall.

A few days later, Emily does change and there is once again joy among the agents. They are now heading back to D. C. as Rebecca wants to talk to the director about returning his agents and reforming his first unit. The rest of the agents have been told about the return to adulthood for Spencer and Emily and are looking forward to seeing them again. Sean is the only one unhappy still since he is still a thirteen year old boy but Ross has found his code on another chip and does plan to send the code through in one month. Sean is pleased by this news and prepares to become a man again.

Back in D. C. the family stops at the house that Derek lives in and crash there because the apartment has been rented by another family and the furniture that was there has been gotten rid of.

Rebecca is still not feeling very good, she gets sick every morning but seems to feel better by the evening. She also feels very hormonal and thinks that she has begun menopause because she is in her mid-forties and has not had a period for several months. This does not worry her because she has not been regular at any time in her life. There have been times when she has gone two or three months without a period. It is the other hormonal things that are worrying her. She is very emotional and is constantly feeling either warm or cold but doesn't feel normal ever.

She goes to see the director the following day while her 'children' stay at the house. When she arrives, the director is already in a meeting and so she is about to leave when he comes out of his office as his secretary has told him that she was there.

"Hello Rebecca, I didn't expect to see you again. How are my agents doing and are they coming back to work for me?"

"Hello Bob, your agents are doing fine and do you want them to working for you?"

"Yes, I do. They are some of the assets I have in dealing with some of the worst criminals."

"Even Aaron?"

"Especially him, I didn't want to do what I did. But as you know politics can be a problem sometimes. How is he?"

"He is quite well and all of your agents are adults and anxious to return to work."

"I would like to discuss it with them about returning. When you say he is well, what do you mean?"

"What do you want to know about him sir?"

"Does he need to take a nap in the afternoon? Do I need to have someone on the payroll to take care of personal needs? Can he write and comprehend reports and knowledge about the cases? Basically I want to know how much of an adult he is now."

"Completely sir, he can work regular hours without needing to rest, he has been in boxers since the New Year, he can comprehend college level work in all aspects. He is quite capable of being the leader of his team again. Spencer is fine and has his knowledge in good standing and can handle anything that you toss him into. Emily does just fine and compartmentalizes as usual. David is gung-ho to return to the job. It's time for your unit to reform."

"Good, I will see them on Monday in the offices."

"That will give enough time to for physicals and cognitive testing."

"I will want the reports of them when they are completed."

"You will get them." She turns to begin to leave.

"Rebecca, I haven't gotten rid of anything from the apartment. It is in a storage unit and when you are ready to move into another apartment, they will be ready for you to use." She turns to look at him and smiles.

"Thank you Bob. We can talk again later."

A few days later, she and the others are at the clinic where Dr. Hovde has set up his practice since the institute will no longer be using his services. He does physicals on each of them and then the agents are sent to the psychiatric center to test their cognitive and developmental abilities.


	27. I don't think so Bob

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Seven. A Miracle Occurs

A few days later, she and the others are at the clinic where Dr. Hovde has set up his practice since the institute will no longer be using his services. He does physicals on each of them and then the agents are sent to the psychiatric center to test their cognitive and developmental abilities.

While Aaron is with the doctor he talks to him about Rebecca.

He asks, "Will you be checking out Rebecca?"

"What's wrong with Rebecca?"

"She has been sick for about a month a now. She says it is stomach flu but I just can't skip the feeling that it might be something more. I know that she is in her forties and it might possibly be hormonal which means she might be perimenopausal. That's another thing that she claims it might be but I would like it if you checked out her blood work and make sure that it isn't something more problematic. Has she ever been checked for things that might occur as we get older?"

"Not by me, in the twelve years that I have been in her employ she has never been sick and she has never allowed herself a yearly physical exam. She allowed me to check her over last year because of that problem when you came to the city from Illinois. Remember her sugar was elevated but it was a non-normal occurrence. She has been fine since then. But if you want I will talk to her about having some blood work done."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Nobody does Aaron."

Later in the waiting room, Aaron and the others were sitting waiting for Rebecca to come out of the doctor's office. They have been talking and when the doctor asks her if he could give her a physical she at first balks and says no. This is a person who hates to be touched and does not care about her physical condition.

"Rebecca, I thought you would say that but Aaron says that you haven't been feeling well."

"Aaron needs to mind his own business."

"I think he believes you are part of his business."

"I will have to disillusion him about that."

"I don't want to interfere in your privacy Rebecca but just allow me to do some blood work and make sure that everything in okay. If you do have the flu or whether you really are beginning your change of life, then we can deal with it. The tests will check all that out. Don't you want to know?"

She looks at the doctor with mild irritation but also knows that it would be nice to know and then she could deal with the emotional and physical situations that could come up. She replies, "All right Bob, but don't tell me if it is bad news." She smirks at him.

He laughs and answers, "Only good news, Rebecca, only good news."

She strips and he takes her vitals and then sends her to the lab for a urine test and blood work. She doesn't bother to look at the worksheet that indicates what tests he wants done. If she had she would have questioned and definitely balked at one of the tests he wants done. But the usually uptight and controlling woman has been compromised a little. She is tired and not feeling well so she lets the worksheet go without reading it.

The group heads back to Morgan's house where Emily and Rebecca cook dinner for the 'family'. The rest of the team comes over for dinner and there is good conversation and happy times all around.

On Friday, Rebecca and Aaron head back to Dr. Hovde's for the reports of the physical, cognitive and developmental tests taken by the agents. She looks and does a quick glance at the results. She is pleased at the positive results of all the tests for the agents. She kisses Aaron after telling him the good news.

"What about you? Are the results of your test good?," he asks her.

"I haven't looked at it. I was more interested in you and the others."

"Let me see the results."

She went through the papers again and was confused when she couldn't find the report of her results. She goes to the front desk and asks to see the Doctor and what her results are. She looks up at Aaron in confusion and he goes to her and wraps his arms around her. The nurse says that the doctor would like to see Rebecca in his office. The couple goes in to his office.

"Hello Rebecca, Aaron. I am glad that you both came in."

"Is there a problem Dr. Hovde?, asks Aaron.

"I wouldn't say that there a problem but I am concerned and I want to make sure that you get all of your needs taken care of."

Rebecca says, "What are talking about Bob?"

The doctor says, "Have you two been sexually active since leaving the city?"

"I don't think that is any of your business Bob."

"I only ask because the tests indicate that you may be pregnant Rebecca."

A shocked look on her face as she hears this news, she shakes her head in disbelief and says "I don't think so Bob."

"Then you are not sexually active."

"I didn't say that but the likelihood of my being pregnant is extremely slim. I have had hormonal problems all my life. I am in my forties and overweight and not exactly the model of good health to become pregnant."

"None of those things matter, you only have to have a good chance. If you had sex during a brief period of fertility it can happen easily. Have you been sexually active?"

Aaron reaches out to her and holds her hand. She looks at him and then back to the doctor.

"Rebecca, I would to do a more thorough exam and check to make sure you are pregnant and then we can set up a schedule of exams and a sonogram. I also want to prescribe a system of vitamins and minerals for health and a dietary regiment for nutrition. Because of your age and physical size, this would be a very high risk pregnancy and possible problems can occur. Let's try to keep those to a minimum, I know that for you this is miraculous. I have known you long enough to know that this is a complete and unexpected surprise. I also know that it is a welcome one."

She looks at him with tears in her eyes, but these are not tears of sorrow but of joy. She hopes that the doctor is right because to actually have a child of her own is a dream. Aaron squeezes her hand and says, "I will be with you the entire time. This is amazing news."

She smiles and says, "Yes it is." She looks back at the doctor and says, "You need to confirm this and make sure that it is not a mistake."

"I intend to do just that."


	28. Two Years

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Eight. Anniversary

The door opens and a woman smiles as she sees who has come to her door.

"Hello JJ, it is good to see you. I see that you have brought Will and Henry. Come on in and go to the living room. That is where we are congregating."

"Hello momma, it is good to see you. You look beautiful."

"I don't think so, I seem to be more bloated and fatter than ever before with brittle hair and dull skin."

Will says, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you. It is always nice to be appreciated by a sweet gentleman."

Hands are reached around as a voice is heard saying, "Are you saying that I don't show how much I appreciate you." The head attached to the voice kisses the back of momma's head.

She says, "I didn't say that at all." She pushes him back so that JJ and her little family could enter the apartment. They head to the living room where they see Derek talking with Emily in chairs set up as a conversation corner. Penelope comes in from the hall and hugs JJ and then picks up Henry and swings him around while the boy giggles.

At hearing the boy's giggles, another little boy comes in from the hall and reaches out for his swing around. But before Penelope can get to him, Derek has the boy and is swinging him around and the adults watch as the boys are swinging and giggling.

Momma looks back again to the door when she hears it open. Spencer and Sean come in with bags of groceries. She goes over to help them bring the bags in but is prevented from picking any up by several other pairs of hands. It seems no-one wants her to pick anything up.

Sean goes to her and kisses her cheek, "Hi momma, I finally got here. Spencer said that you didn't have the right foods that I want to make here so we stopped at the store."

"Is that why you are later than I expected?" She looks over at Spencer, who hangs his a little. "You could have called and let me know so I wouldn't worry."

Spencer says, "I am not your little boy anymore. I shouldn't have to call everytime that I go out."

"Little boy or not, you live here and I expect to be called when you run later than you should."

He comes over and kisses her cheek and says, "I'm sorry momma. I'll try to remember next time."

"Uh huh, I will believe that when it happens." She mildly smacks his bottom as he goes past her and heads to the living room. Sean hugs her and then begins to take the food out the bags and begins to prepare dinner for the people who have come today.

Rebecca, who is still called momma by most of the people there, goes to the door and looks around at the people standing around talking. It has been a little more than three months since Dr. Hovde told her that she was pregnant and she is late in her sixth month. So far the pregnancy is going well, she had a sonogram a few weeks earlier and there does not seem to be any problems. They have discovered that she is carrying a beautiful and healthy looking baby with no genetic problems. They have been fixing up a nursery in purple and green tones because she doesn't want it to be usual with pink and blue. She wonders if it is actually possible to not teach sexism when it is encouraged from the beginning of birth with pink and blue.

It was hard to find an apartment big enough for all the people but they finally did it by splitting up rooms and creating privacy areas for all. Aaron and Rebecca are in a bedroom together and are creating a corner of the room for the nursery for the baby. Spencer is still living with them because he wants to save money and finds that he likes having people to come home to. He is in the smallest room in the apartment but it does give him some privacy. Sean has moved back to New York and is working there but comes fairly often to visit. When he comes he sleeps in the bed in the third bedroom while the trundle has the regular occupant of the room. David has moved back into his own house. While Emily had been in the apartment until she finally was able to get her own brownstone again just a weeks earlier. Spencer took over the room that she had been in as he had been sharing the other bedroom with Jack who had moved in when Hailey was killed two months earlier. She had been hit by a drunk driver. He still wakes up wanting her but is happy when he can get into bed with his dad and Rebecca. He finds it fascinating when he touches her stomach and feels it moving around and is looking forward to becoming a big brother like his dad.

Another knock at the door and momma opens the door to the final guest to arrive for the day, David. He kisses her on the cheek and really looks at this woman who made him an eleven-year-old boy two years ago on this date. He spent more than a year at that age under her loving hands.

"Hello momma."

"Hello David. How was the tour this time? Did you sign a lot of books?"

"Yes, it still amazes me of why people are so interested in reading about serial killers. But it does help pay the bills." The two laugh at that. He places his hands on her belly and asks, "How are you and this miracle doing?"

"We are doing fine. I am being very good nutritionally and nobody allows me to do any lifting or strenuous activity. Derek actually comes over and vacuums for me, can you believe it?"

"I can believe that of Derek, he is good with women and does a lot for his own mother when he can."

"Yes, he is my gentle boy, even though he is the force of the unit."

The two walk toward the living room while talking and look at the mild chaos within. The boys are still being swung around and sent flying around the room by Derek and Spencer. Penelope went and sat next to Kevin on the love seat with JJ sitting on the other love seat by Will and the ladies were talking about a variety of things with the men talking as well. Emily was in the kitchen talking with Sean about dinner and chopping vegetables for one of the dishes being made.

Aaron came walking into the room from the bedrooms and in his hands was a book. He walks over to Rebecca and Dave.

"Hi Dave, glad to see that you made it."

"I had no intention of not being here today. It it our second anniversary of becoming children to this woman."

"Yeah, you know that she never finished the book that she was reading to us at night before we began to become adults again."

Rebecca says, "Is that a hint baby?"

"Yes momma. What do you think Dave, wouldn't you like to know how the story ends?"

"I know how it ends because I got the book and finished it myself because I did have to know how it ended but I have no problem with hearing momma finish reading it."

"I will think about it boys. If you will excuse me." She leaves them standing there as she heads to the hallway and down to the bathroom. It seems to her that the fetus is pressing against every part of her abdomen and she is not exactly comfortable.

Then she leaves and enters the living room again. She looks around and then walks over to the rocking chair that seems to in the center of everything at the edge of the wall. She sits down in the chair and notices the book that Aaron had been speaking of sitting on the table next to the chair. She picks it up and then looks up again and sees a room full of faces looking at her. Beginning to the left of her is JJ and Will sitting on the love seat with Henry on her lap. Behind them is a chair sitting at the door of the kitchen in which Sean is sitting. It is so he can listen to the story and yet be able to go into the kitchen and check on the dinner when necessary.

Momma continues to look right and sees Derek in the big recliner next to the love seat that Penelope and Kevin are sitting in. Behind them David and Emily are sitting in the conversation corner of two wing chairs with a table between them. Spencer is sitting on the floor leaning against the table with his legs spread out in front of him. Momma finishes looking around by looking at Aaron sitting on the floor in front of the table next to her. His legs are crossed and Jack is sitting on his lap. The faces of all the people in the room are looking at her. She continues to look at each of these faces and finds it amazing that before two years ago they were not there in her life. How her life has changed.

She smiles and opens the book to begin, "Chapter thirty three…"


	29. Labor

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Nine. Finally

The team was at the round table talking about a case in Southern Illinois involving three missing women.

Hotch says, "I think we should head out there and get a handle on this as quickly as possible."

Morgan speaks up, "Are you sure that you should go Hotch? Isn't momma due any day now?"

Spencer says, "Yeah and she is driving us crazy at home. She is strong and capable one minute and the next she is weeping and stating that she shouldn't be doing this. That she is too old and doesn't know anything about babies and taking care of children."

Morgan answers, "Well you could always become her little boy again."

"Ha ha, she sees me that way anyway."

Hotch interrupts, "Momma is fine and yes she is due anytime now. She does not want anyone catering to her, even though we do our best to do so. As for her stating that she is not capable, we know differently and she is just scared of what could happen. But the police here need us to help them find the unsub who has killed these women. Momma would not want us to stop working. If she needs us we will come immediately to her. But we are not going to stop doing our jobs. Be ready, we take off in thirty minutes."

He goes to his office where he picks up his go bag and calls the car to take them to the airport and the jet. He fingers the phone and then calls home.

After the third ring, a voice is heard, "Hello, house of insanity."

He smiles as he answers, "Is the chief of insanity there?"

"No, he should be working but she who must be obeyed is available. What can I do for you?"

"You can take it easy and let Lois clean the house while Sean does the cooking."

"That means that I all can do is sit around. I don't like to do that."

"The chief is telling she who must be obeyed that she must obey too."

"I don't think it works that way baby. Will you be home tonight?"

"No, we are heading out to Illinois for a case. Be careful and don't go into labor while we are gone."

"No promises but I will try. I really want you here with me in case something bad happens."

"I will be there and so will the family. I love you sweet momma. Tell Jack I will call him later and tell Sean that I am glad he is here right now to help out."

"I will do just that. You call later and tell the others to keep themselves safe. I expect to see them in a few days. I love my baby man." She gives a kiss to the phone and hangs up.

Thirty-Six hours later

Our agents have been working hard with victimology, crime scene role-modeling and have created a workable profile. The unsub has been identified they believe and the team is now getting ready to corner him with the local police department.

Hotch's phone rings and he answers quietly. "Hello."

"Aaron, it's Sean. How is the case going? Will you be finished soon and coming home?"

"We are going after the unsub now, what is the problem Sean."

"It's momma. She is in labor and is needing you now."

"WHAT? NOW? How long has she been in labor?"

"It started about two hours ago with her first heavy pain. She is scared Aaron and needs you. She is afraid that she is going to die. You need to come home now."

"As soon as possible we will be there. Keep momma calm and tell her that I love her."

"Will do and I will call you with updates."

"Later bro." He hangs up and continues with the rest of the team to catch the killer, within an hour he is captured and arrested. For several hours after, there is the clean-up with the local police department and then while in the office completing with the chief Aaron's phone rings again.

"Hotchner."

"Aaron, momma is not doing well."

"What do you mean Sean?" At this remark the rest of the team look up in wonder.

"The doctor say that she is not dilating like she should and she is getting tired and is worried about you and where you are."

"What did the doctor say about the dilation?"

"He said something like two centimeters and she should be double that. She also hasn't broke her water yet. She needs you Aaron."

"I have already ordered the jet to be ready; we should be lifting off in an hour. Just keep her spirits up and let her know that I will be there as soon as possible."

He hangs up and looks around at all the faces looking at him.

It is David who speaks up, "What's going on Aaron? Who does Sean need to keep the spirits up?"

"Momma is in labor." At that simple remark, there is a flurry of "Whats?" and "How longs?" As well as hands and bodies moving to prepare to leave the place. The local police chief looks at this in wonderment. Aaron says, "Momma is my wife and she is expecting our first child. The entire team is very close to her and we really need to get to her. It has been a hard pregnancy and she is scared of losing the baby and her life and I am scared for her. But we do need to finish up here."

"We are finished agent. You need to get out of here and head to your delivering wife."

"Thank you."

"Good luck agent to you and yours." The team hurriedly leaves for the airport where they are given bad news about the jet. It seems that doing the maintenance check a problem was discovered in the brake hydraulics. They would be at least twenty-four hours there in order to replace and correct the problem. Upon hearing this news, the agents head back into the private airport. There are no other planes leaving that evening and since it is not a commercial airport the major airlines do not land there.

Our agents begin to discuss their options and decide on heading east by car and driving to the nearest commercial airport which is about four hours. However, they decide to drive all the way home when they realize that when they get to the airport the next flight won't be until mid-morning. According to Garcia, if they take the interstate all the way it will only take about 14 hours to get back to Quantico. They decide to rent a larger car so that all six of them could fit in the one vehicle. They took straws to determine who would drive first and who would navigate while the other four would sleep. Derek got the straw with Dave navigating. The only one not happy is Aaron. We all know how much he prefers to be in control and would actually drive all the way there before letting anyone else do so. Dave decides to take him aside and talk.

"Aaron…"

"Dave, we don't have time for this, we need to get going."

"Aaron, I want you to sleep the entire way and not worry about driving."

"I am going to take my turn at the wheel Dave."

"Aaron, momma needs you more so than she needs of us and she needs you awake, strong and capable. She is afraid and she needs your strength. You know her needs about that and you can give her that more than anyone else. You need to be as rested and able as possible."

"All right Dave. I will agree to that. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, you need to change your clothes into something more comfortable and disposable."

Aaron gets that strong angry look on his face when he says, "What exactly are you implying Dave?"

"I know that momma puts a few in your go bag and that it because sometimes you forget to mention when you have urges to go. Usually I or one of the others can read you when you have an urge and can quietly remind you. Even though you sometimes don't like when we do; you know that it has prevented problems." Aaron looks around shiftily because he knows of the truth of this. "I also know that she puts them in there because at night when you sleep you relax enough to lose control. Aaron, while in the car and sleeping you will be hopefully relaxed enough and may lose control. Let's nip that in the bud, okay." Aaron looks at him in the eye; not happy but knowing that Dave is right.

"I will meet you in the car."

"Do you need any help?"

"No, but thanks for the reminder."

"Any time baby brother." Both men smile as they remember the family dynamics that momma had created for them. Aaron might have been the boss of the team but he was also made the baby of the family.

He comes out of the airport where the car is waiting. Derek is in the driver's seat, David in the front passenger seat, Jennifer is in the bucket seat behind David and Emily is on the back seat behind her with Spencer sitting next to her. The bucket seat behind Derek is empty and waiting for Aaron. He gets in and puts his bag by his feet and buckles himself in. Derek slowly leaves the airport and moves toward the interstate where they build up speed. It is just past midnight when they arrive on the interstate and they know it will be about another twelve hours before they get to the DC area.

Meanwhile back in DC, Sean is pacing up and down the hall at the hospital where momma is lying in labor. Penelope is currently in with her and keeping her going by feeding ice chips to her and helping provide strength to this rapidly tiring woman. She has a pain every few minutes, however has not dilated which worries the doctors. She is in pain but does not want to take any painkiller for fear of hurting the baby. She is very conscious of what could happen. Jack is with his Aunt Jessica for the night but had been there earlier to see momma and feel the baby move within her.

For the next six hours, she continues to have pain after pain and is beginning to struggle to maintain her strength and the doctors have put her on oxygen in order to help her breathe through the pains. They did this when she fainted in the middle of a contraction. It was at this time when Dr. Hovde came to her to discuss having a cesarean. She has so far said no to this procedure because of an innate fear of surgery and not waking up from it. This stems from a childhood tragedy of losing her grandmother to that. She also is afraid for the baby as she knows that dangers of it. She wonders where Aaron and the family is. It is at this time when Penelope brought in her laptop with the camera and sets up a face to face with the family in the car.

It is Emily that answers as David and Derek are sleeping in the back seat with JJ driving and Spencer in the bucket seat next to Aaron who is still sleeping. The others refuse to wake him and have kept very quiet to let him sleep. It is eight in the morning now when Penelope contacts them.

"Hi, is he awake? Momma really needs to see him as she is failing fast. You have got to get here soon."

"We are driving as fast as we can and still be legal. We don't want to get stopped for speeding because that will take time we don't have and wouldn't be worth it. We are about 140 miles away. We should be there in about three hours barring any detours."

During this intercourse, Aaron wakes up after being gently prodded by Spencer and he looks at the man prodding him.

"What is it Spencer?"

"Garcia has momma on the computer. She needs to talk to you."

Aaron sits up straight and takes the computer that Emily hands back to him. Momma is on the screen, she looks haggard and tired but smiles when she sees him. He thinks that she looks beautiful.

"Hello Rebecca. You look beautiful and a little tired but beautiful."

"I don't feel beautiful just haggard and old but I needed to see you sweetheart. I don't know how much more strength I have. The doctors want to do a c-section and that scares me. I don't like surgery or anything like that. But I am tired and becoming very…" She stops talking as a contraction over and she begins to do her breathing exercises and he is right there encouraging her and doing his best to give her strength over the wireless connection. After several minutes the contraction ends and she does a last cleansing breathe. She looks at him and gives him a kiss while she leans back and closes her eyes to rest. It seems that she needs to do that between contractions. At this moment the computer at the hospital moves and Sean is looking at his brother.

"Hi Aaron, I heard that she told you about what the doctors say. She is only six centimeters dilated, at this rate it could be another twenty-four hours and she is not going to make it another day like this. The doctors want to do a c-section. You need to convince her to do that, otherwise…" He begins to get tears in his eyes and his voice cracks. "The doctors aren't sure she is going to make it much more. She is very weak and getting worse every hour. The baby isn't in distress yet but it is only a matter of time. You have to convince her to have the c-section Aaron."

"We should be there in about two and half hours, put me back with Rebecca." The computer screen is moved again to face Rebecca.

"Rebecca, it is Aaron. Open your eyes sweetheart." With tiredness her eyes open and she looks at the man that she loves. "Sweetheart, you need to prepare for the c-section and have it if the doctors say it is the best way. You have getting too tired to continue to try to dilate and have the baby vaginally. I need you to be okay and the baby needs you to be okay. The c-section will help insure that. I will be there as quickly as I can but you need to prepare for surgery sweetheart." She looks at him with tears in her eyes and slightly nods her head in agreement as she leans back again and closes her eyes but before that happens she begins another contraction. Aaron talks with her and encourages her but sees how draining it is on her.

The computer moves again and it is the doctor looking at him.

"Hello doctor, prepare her for surgery. I will get there as soon I can but she needs to be prepared and doctor do your best to save both."

"I will agent Hotchner and we will put it off as long as possible but I think it is best."

The computer turns off as the connection is lost.


	30. Miracle

A New Life

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story. This is a follow-up to Undercover Family. How do they survive being children?

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Thirty. Miracle

"Sean, is he here yet?"

"No momma, they still haven't arrived. But he called and they are at the edge of the beltway. You can't wait anymore. You have to go in for the c-section. The doctor said that the baby is beginning to distress. It is now or we could lose both of you. That would destroy him."

She lies on the gurney to head to the delivery room for surgery and listens tiredly to her boy talking to her and remembers him in her arms crying when he thought he killed his brother and when they came back from the pit of horror. She nods her head and they take that as a sign to take her in. He stands there as they doors close behind her as he does not want to go in. Penelope is standing beside him and takes his hand in comfort as they watch this woman that they have learned to care greatly for go under the knife in order to deliver her baby.

She says, "Let's go pray in the chapel while we wait for the others to arrive and to hear any news from the doctors." He looks at her in mild disbelief at what she says and slightly nods as she leads him down the hall to the chapel.

In the meantime, the team is heading into the city towards the hospital where momma is in labor and are getting anxious as they worry about what is happening.

"I'm hungry.'

"Spencer, you are always hungry. We are not stopping to get food. You can go to the cafeteria at the hospital when we get there."

"Actually, I think that we should go through a drive-thru and get something to eat on the way there. That way nobody will be as grumpy as they are right now."

"I am not grumpy Derek."

"You are not in a good mood either."

"I am worried about Rebecca and our child. Should I be happy that I am not there when she needs me? Should I be happy that I am stuck in the car with you and not knowing about is happening to her?"

"No, you shouldn't be happy that we are not there yet. But don't take it out on us. We haven't had anything to eat in eighteen hours and we are just as worried. We love her too."

Emily says, "Look, most of us didn't get a lot of sleep and we are hungry and very worried. All of these things combined are going to make us grumpy and not very nice to each other. But I agree with Derek, we should go through a drive-thru and get some burgers and fries and eat them while we continue to the hospital. It will help our moods by relieving the hunger and make it better for momma."

"While we are getting the food and stuffing our faces, she could be dying."

"You don't know that Hotch and it would help if you ate something. Your attitude and mood would improve and you could be a better help to her."

"I don't want to stop anywhere."

"It's the driver's decision. All faces look toward Rossi who is currently driving and has been listening to the others argue in the back seats. Jennifer is in the front passenger seat navigating him toward the hospital. She looks at him in wonder at what he plans to do. He quietly tells her to find out what each person might want if he goes through a McDonalds drive-thru. He didn't say he would but just wondered what they would want. She quietly sends a notebook back to Emily sitting behind her who continues to send it back to the boys in the back seat.

A few minutes later the notebook was sent back up to JJ bypassing Hotch who has been fidgeting and anxious in his seat. The man is uncomfortable and irritated by not being where he wants to be. He is looking at his hands trying to keep himself calm and collected. When David turns into a drive-thru McDonalds and gets to the speaker and orders food for the family he looks up.

"I thought I said we weren't stopping for food."

"You were outvoted." After leaving the restaurant with the food, JJ hands the food out to the people in the car. David now turns into a grocery store that he knows and puts the car into park. He turns the engine off and gets out of the car.

Opening the car door on Hotch's side he says, "Get out of the car Hotch. We need to talk."

"We don't need to talk David. We need to get to the hospital."

"I have the keys to the car and we are not continuing to the hospital until we talk. Get out of the vehicle and let's go talk. Now."

Aaron looks at his long-time friend and the anger in his eyes and gets out of the car. David grabs Aaron's bag that was on the floor by Aaron's seat and the men go into the store with Aaron following David into the men's bathroom. David locks the door to the room to prevent anyone else coming in after checking that they were alone in the room. He turns to Aaron and says, "You need to clean yourself up and change your underclothes."

"I am…"

"If you say that are fine right now I am going to kick your butt."

"What makes you think that I am not fine?"

"You have been fidgeting in your seat for the past hour which is telling me that you need to clean up before we get to the hospital. You haven't had a change since we started on this trip over twelve hours ago. You slept most of the time on the way so you didn't take the breaks that the rest of us took. You need to change now. Rebecca needs you now in the best way possible; as a strong, capable man not fidgeting or hungry. Clean up so we can go."

Aaron looks at him with irritation and frustration in his demeanor as he knows the Dave is right. He begins to remove his pants while Dave gets a clean pair of disposable underwear out of the bag. Dave also gets some wipes and lotion out in order to help Hotch get rid of the itch and irritation of sitting in a wet disposable for many hours.

Less than ten minutes pass before Hotch and Dave are back in the car. Dave starts the engine and takes a bite out of his big mac. JJ sends a meal back to Hotch who looks at her.

"Thanks. You got me an interesting meal."

"Momma always got you the toddler chicken nugget meal with apple dippers and milk. I figured that was all you needed right now." There are chuckles all around the car.

David says, "Eat up everybody we should be there in a few minutes.

A flurry of chomping and swallowing for the next few minutes until they see the hospital coming up in front of them and Dave drives into the parking lot. Everyone gets out and rushes into the building, they go to the front desk to discover where Rebecca is and how to get there. The maternity ward is on the second floor and they head up there. In the waiting room are Sean and Penelope. Sean sees them come out of the elevator.

"Aaron, over here." He calls out and then walks over to them. "They took her down to surgery fifteen minutes ago. It's bad Aaron." There were tears in his eyes as he pulls his brother along with him to the surgery doors. At the doors, Sean stays and Aaron just barges through. He goes to the nearest hospital employee and asked where Dr. Hovde was and where Rebecca was delivering. Thankfully the nurse he asked knew who he was talking about and asked for his name.

"Aaron Hotchner."

"Come with me Mr. Hotchner." She takes him to a clean room with sinks and scrubs and begins to clean and dress him before taking him into the operating room. He smiles under his mask when he sees her lying there. Although she would probably say that she looked like a beached whale, he saw her as a beautiful beacon of light. He goes to the head of the table where she is still awake and aware of what is happening around her. When he comes into her line of sight she smiles with delight.

"Aaron, darling, you made it."

"I came as fast as I could. I have been going crazy thinking of the pain you must be in."

"It will be worth it when we have our beautiful child."

The doctor speaks, "Mr. Hotchner, we need to finish the procedure and deliver this baby."

"Do what you need to do Doctor but I can't leave her side." He grabs her hand as she has another contraction and the doctors begin the cesarean procedure.

Less than five minutes later a strong wail is heard. Aaron looks down at Rebecca and says, "Well, she has a good set of lungs on her."

"You need to confirm that it is a girl. We only think it is because the sonogram said so."

The attending nurse has wrapped the baby in a blue and pink stripe blanket and thrust the baby into Aaron's arms. He looks down and opens up the blanket to check out and see all of the beautiful aspects of this precious miracle. He places the baby into Rebecca's arms who then looks at this most wonderful bundle in her arms and says to Aaron, "Look what we did. Thank you for doing this with me."

"It was my pleasure momma. Do you really want to name her the name that we discussed?"

"Yes." She closes her eyes.

It is at this moment the attending nurse says, "Her BPs going down, we're losing her."

Aaron is pushed aside and the baby is taken away to be physically checked over and he is taken out of the room in shock. At the door, he begins to hyperventilate and screams, "REBECCA!"

Sean is behind him then and picking him off the floor where he had dropped to his knees. He holds his brother in his arms while Aaron continues to sob out her name. He feels small hands at his hips and looks down to see his son, Jack. He reaches down as the boy reaches up and clasps him in his arms.

"Why are you crying daddy?"

"Your stepmomma is hurting a lot even though she just gave us a new love. You have a little sister Jack and she is as beautiful as you were handsome when you were born."

"Are you crying because momma is hurting or because of my little sister?"

"A little of both, happiness for your sister and sadness for momma." He sinks his head into the boy's shoulder and hugged him tightly.

A few minutes later, the doctor comes out of the doors and looks around the room at the plethora of people waiting there. He looked around and sees Aaron. Looking straight at him he says, "We have finished. As you know you have a beautiful little girl, who weighs 7 pounds, six ounces and appears to be in good health. Rebecca began to lose a lot of blood but we were able to stop it and she is now in recovery."

"She is still alive."

"Yes, she is alive and resting. We will move her to a private room soon with the baby with her. You can visit them then."

"Doctor?"

"Yes Aaron, you can go into the recovery room and see her."

He smiles and follows the doctor to see Rebecca. She is pale, drawn and tired with dark circles under her eyes and is still on the oxygen to help her breathe. He grabs her hand and she opens her eyes and smiles wanly at him. Neither say a word to each other as they look at each other and are grateful for the other.

Forty-Two hours later

There is a flurry of action at the apartment with cleaning it up and cooking a meal and preparing for the return of momma. Aaron just called and told them they would be there in about five minutes and everyone is fixing up what can fixed or cleaning themselves up for the baby is coming today.

A sound down the hall and everyone quiets down as they anxiously wait for Aaron to open the door and bring momma and the baby. The door opens and the first person they see is Aaron and then momma comes in and a flurry of applause greets her as she looks around at all the faces of her children and friends. A large banner above the rocking chair saying Welcome Home and next to the chair is the cradle that the baby's father slept in a year ago at their 'grandfathers' house. In the bedroom is the crib he slept in.

Aaron guides her to the chair and she seats with the baby in her arms. Jack comes over and looks down at his baby sister and then at his stepmomma and finally up at his dad. He says, "Hello, I am your big brother. I will always protect you." Rebecca shifts the baby a little and then Aaron lifts Jack and places him on her other knee. Derek is taking pictures and Emily is making a video of this scene.

While the family mingle around, momma rocks in her chair and looks at each of her children.

She sees them not as they are now but as they were during the time when she was taking care of them. She remembers spats and arguments. She remembers Emily as her little girl playing in the pretend kitchen with her dolls and plush animals and having tea parties. She remembers Derek, her middle boy scrapping with the others, hitting a softball on the field and running to a base, lying on the ground when he fell and injured his leg and holding him when she got him back after being kidnapped.

She remembers JJ when she had to go find her because she decided to go bicycling by herself, when she got a goal playing soccer, playing with Barbie dolls and having puppet shows with the others. She remembers Penelope, her big girl when she went out on her date with Chad, when she was deaged and then brought back to her teen age and when she played dolls with the girls and tossed the ball with the boys.

She remembers her big little boy, Spencer crying when he broke his arm, standing in the corner because he woke up the baby by screaming and attacking David, scrapping with Derek and clinging to her to convince not to send him to preschool and then when he came out and was so happy and found out how much he enjoyed it. She remembers having to clean him when he came back from the pit of horror and then waking up to him lying in her bed with his thumb in his mouth.

She remembers her big boy, David as he played ball in the field, when he took Spencer into the pool and helped be less afraid of the water, as he played with Aaron on the motorcycle in Chicago.

Yes, momma looks around the room and is grateful that the experiment and research that she had worked on for more than twenty years has given her such wonderful memories and a great family to share them with.

She looks down at the precious bundle in her arms and hugs Jack as he decides to get down. A champagne glass filled with orange juice is placed in her hand. She looks at it and then up at all of the faces surrounding her. Each of them has a glass filled with different drinks as they raise a toast.

David says, "To momma, may she be around for many more years."

Derek says, "To momma, a woman of great strength."

Jennifer says, "To momma, someone who can teach what it really is to be a mother."

Emily says, "To momma, a woman who gives and loves to hug."

Penelope says, "To momma, a great lady."

Spencer says, "To momma, thank you for giving me a childhood."

Sean says, "To momma, thank you for helping me understand my brother better."

Aaron says, "To momma Rebecca, I love you and thank you for your patience and love."

Momma says, "To my undercover children, thank you for giving me a family and being here while I have the greatest gift of all, a daughter of my own, little Miracle."

Everyone then says, "Welcome to little Miracle Anderson Hotcher and may you have a good long life."

This is the end of this story. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed reading it. Please continue to read other stories of mine and in a few months I am going to write again about our undercover family when I write a alternate new life for them.

I love your reviews and thank you for them. You give me strength to write and carry on.


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